It's all downhill from here
by ChampagneWishes
Summary: Instead of that fun in the sun trip the gang took with Oliver, they all head to ski slopes! For a weekend of downhill action, fun, drama, and an usual pairing. But what happens when Ryan gets hurt and everybody gets snowed in?
1. Chapter 1

"Hello?" Ryan answered his phone when Marissa's name appeared on his caller ID.

"Hey Ryan… So Oliver stopped by…" Ryan groaned inwardly. He had been praying that maybe Ryan could just disappear, but he had known that it probably wouldn't happen. Oliver was in love with Marissa, why was he the only one who could see this?

"And?" Ryan asked, he knew he sounded annoyed.

"And he apologized- for everything. He really wants us all to be friends. He invited us all to his family's place in Mammoth for some skiing."

"I don't ski,"

"Don't worry, it's easy! I'll teach you! It will be so much fun… Snowball fights, hot cocoa, snuggling up at night…"

"Mmm… that does sound like fun…" Ryan imagined Marissa's, her cheeks flushed, her smile sparkling… "Okay, when do we leave?"

"Friday, oh and I'm going to invite Summer and Luke, you should invite Seth and Anna!" Then with a click she hung up the phone. Ryan sighed and got up from his bed and walked towards the main house.

What had he gotten himself into? "Hey Seth?"

"What's up Ryan?" Seth looked up from his video game.

"We're going to Mammoth,"

"Mammoth what?"

"Mammoth, like… the mountain?" Ryan hoped he had that right.

"For skiing?"

"Yeah…"

"Dude, do you even know how to ski?"

"No, do you?"

"I went a few times with my parents, but it's really not a me kind of sport. All that cold air, and wet snow, really, just not me."

"Well, this weekend, it's going to be. I'm not going to be spending my time up on that mountain with just Oliver and Marissa. Oh, and Marissa said you can invite Anna…"

"Oh?" Suddenly Seth seemed much more interested.

Roll Main Credits

We've been on the road… Driving towards the sun… Looking out for number one…

California here we come!

"Kirsten, you really don't have to do this…" Ryan said, staring in slight horror at the price tag on a ski jacket.

"Well, what else are you going to do? You can't wear your hoodie on the mountain," Kirsten chuckled.

"How do I look?" Seth emerged from the fitting room, suddenly four times his normal body mass, dressed in a red and white ski suit. Ryan couldn't help laughing a little, but quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

"Looks great sweetie," Kirsten said, but she was also laughing.

"Yeah Seth, looks great."

"Skiiers are supposed to be brightly colored, or else you blend in too much to the snow or something."

"How about black?" Ryan asked, holding up a basic black jacket.

"Looks good to me," Kirsten smiled. Ryan, pleased with his find, made his way to a rack of pants to find his size, when he accidently bumped into someone.

"Sorry…" he muttered.

"Ryan?"

"Hey Marissa," Ryan smiled, surprised but glad to see her. "What are you doing here?" She was in the men's ware section.

"Oh, Oliver and I were just doing some shopping. He's around here somewhere…"

"Oliver's here?"

"Yeah, he insisted I come with him shopping. He wanted to pick up some stuff for Natalie, and wanted me to give him a second opinion."

"Oh, right…" Ryan couldn't really find anything wrong with this, but he still didn't like it. "So Natalie's coming?"

"Of course she is," Marissa frowned a little, "I mean, we're buying stuff for her aren't we?"

"Right…" Ryan said, not feeling entirely reassured. "Well, I'm here with Seth and Kirsten, they're probably wondering where I went..." And then he jetted off, wanting to avoid coming into any unnecessary contact with Oliver.

Commercial Break

Ryan looked in dismay at the enormous amount of stuff piled onto the front stoop. He had never been on a real vacation in his life, and he wasn't used to packing. Kirsten had to help him with a lot of it, but he had already decided that this was to be the first and last skiing vacation he ever took. It required way too much stuff.

Keith pulled his truck into his driveway, honking loudly, "Yo, let's go!" He yelled, hopping down from the cab, grinning like an idiot. Summer climbed down from the passenger seat, looking less thrilled.

"Cohen!" She spotted Seth, "Are _you _going?" She looked at him disdainfully.

Seth glanced at Ryan, "Well, yeah, Anna and me are going."

"Oh..."

"Alright, I got the beers packed, got my snowboard… Are you guys both on skiis?" He noticed the equipment that they boys had packed.

"No Luke, we're actually on snowboards, we're just gonna be riding one with each foot." Luke looked confused, Summer laughed, loudly.

"Ha ha ha, oh Seth, you are just too funny!"

"Dude, is she mocking me?" Seth asked Ryan quietly.

"You know, I'm not sure." Ryan answered honestly, slightly confused by Summer's odd outburst. "Where's Marissa?" He asked, looking around. As if in answer to his question, his phone started to ring. "Marissa? Hey, where are you?"

"Hey Ryan, so bad news, Natalie can't make it…"

"What?" Ryan asked, for some reason he had a bad feeling about this…

"Yeah, she and Oliver got into a huge fight. He's feeling pretty awful, so I told him I'd drive with him up to Mammoth." Ryan felt his mood sink lower.

"Well… Okay…" What could he say?

"We'll see you up there, Summer said they just got to your house."

"Yeah, see you up there." Ryan said, hanging up the phone.

"She's going up with Oliver?" Summer asked.

"Yeah…"

"I'm sorry," Her words seemed genuinely sympathetic, he saw her glance slide to Seth. In the interim of the phone, Anna had arrived, and she and Seth were greeting each other with an enthusiastic "secret" handshake.

"No Seth, it's clap then shake then clap!" Anna was laughing as Seth confused the less-than-complicated maneuvers.

"So Anna, Ryan and I will go up in the Rover, and Luke and Summer can go in his truck."

"Oh no, I am not spending six hours in the car with him!" Summer yelled.

"She makes me listen to Britney!" Luke whined.

"I'll go with them," Ryan offered. It would be better than watching Anna and Seth get all sappy with each other.


	2. Chapter 2

"Luke… I AM NOT LISTENING TO ANY MORE RAP!" Summer screeched and Ryan was jolted out of his nap.

"Fine… Chino, what do you want to listen to?" Luke saw Ryan was awake and jumped at the chance to have his opinion heard, hoping his music tastes were more agreeable than Summer's.

"Uh…" Ryan realized he didn't really listen to music much, usually he just listened to whatever Seth put on. "Death cab for cutie?" He suggested, he knew Marissa liked them, so maybe Summer did too.

"Ugh, emo much?" Summer said, but she popped a CD into the dashboard player. "We're only about two hours away," Summer said, looking at her GPS.

"Nice!" Luke said, pumping the air with his fist. Summer looked at him horrified.

"Sometimes I just can't understand Marissa's taste in men," She turned around and looked at Ryan, "No offense."

"I don't even think I'm her current taste," Ryan said.

"Ryan, if it was up to me, she'd pick you over that Oliver dude, he creeps me out." Luke said suddenly.

"Thanks," Ryan said.

"I kind of agree… There's something wrong with Oliver… You know who else is weird? That Anna chick, what does Seth see in her?"

Luke and Ryan sighed, as Summer launched into a diatribe about everything and everything that was wrong with Anna, and when she was finished with Anna, she turned to discussing what exactly was wrong with Seth Cohen.

Luke and Ryan let out a collective sigh of relief, when, as promised by the GPS, they arrived in Mammoth two hours later, and the mountains loomed into sight.

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They were the last ones to arrive. Oliver came outside to greet them, "Welcome! Welcome! Welcome to my humble abode," and he made a mock bow. Ryan gazed up at the large slope- side château. "Let's get unpacked, and then we were gonna go chill in the hot tub!"

"Great, I'll bring the beer!" Luke said enthusiastically, picking up his beer and his gear and following Oliver into the house. Summer trooped in after them, practically falling over as she tried to heft a bag that was as big as she was. Ryan came to her rescue, and helped her carry it inside. Then went back out for his stuff.

When he got back, everyone was enthusiastically claiming bedrooms. He hoped Marissa had already claimed one for them. "Hey Ryan," She appeared, finally.

"Hey," he caught her in a hug. "Where are we sleeping?"

She stared at him, "I don't know, I thought you were going to pick our room."

Ryan didn't bother pointing out that she had been here for some time, and what had she been doing in that time? "Do you guys need a room?" Oliver interjected himself. How had he found them talking so fast?

"Uh, yeah," Ryan said.

"Sure, right this way. We have one bedroom left," he led them up a flight of steps and down a hallway. "Oh shoot…" he said as he opened the door. "I forgot, my cousins used to share this room." Ryan craned his neck to look inside, bunk beds. Great. "What ski house isn't complete without bunk beds?" Oliver grinned. Ryan didn't get the joke.

"This fine, right Ryan?" Melissa said, eyeing him.

"It's great," Ryan tried to smile.

"Good, get changed quick, we're all going in the hot tub!" Ryan had to admit, a hot tub didn't sound too bad after having spent the last eight hours crammed into the backseat of Luke's trucks.

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Ryan was just sliding into the hot tube next to Seth, who was still canoodling with Anna, when Oliver and Marisa appeared, both still fully dressed.

"We're gonna run into town for some supplies," Oliver told the group enthusiastically. "But mi casa es su casa," he smiled broadly.

"Marissa, are you coming into the hot tub?" Summer asked, Ryan already knew the answer.

"Uh… No, I was going to go into town with Oliver, keep him company you know?"

Ryan sighed, hadn't she given him enough company on the ride up? He was supposed to be spending this weekend with his girlfriend, instead he was spending it with everyone but her. He told himself to calm down, making a scene wouldn't end well. Marissa would just support Oliver.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning Ryan awoke feeling more optimistic. During dinner the night before, Marissa had sat next to him, and had spent most of the night talking to him. Although, sleeping in separate beds still left something to be desired… But she had snuck down and cuddled for awhile.

He spirits dimmed when he noticed Marissa putting on a new fleece, with the tags still attached, one that he had noticed her holding during her shopping trip. "Got some new gear?" He asked.

"Oh yeah…" Marissa blushed slightly. "Oliver bought it for Natalie, but since she's not here he said I could wear it, since it fits me. He didn't want it to not get used, you know?"

"Yeah… Okay…" Ryan couldn't really think of a reason to object, but he wanted to. He sighed, and got ready to dress in the thirty layers Kirsten had bought for him.

"You slow pokes almost ready yet?" Summer yelled from another room. "Spring is gonna be here before you two get ready!"

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"You have got to be kidding me," Summer eyed Luke as he picked up a snowboard and got ready to put it on. She was standing next to one of her own, it was very pink. "Does nobody else snowboard?" Summer eyed the rest of the group, and sure enough she and Luke were the only one's with snowboards.

Cohen was attempting to put on skis, and kept falling over. Anna was trying to help him, but he kept pulling her down and they landed, laughing together in a heap. Oliver was helping Marissa, which was odd, because Summer knew that Marissa knew how to ski. Ryan, meanwhile, was struggling to get into his ski boots, and sneaking brief glares at Oliver. Summer actually felt bad for him. Not as bad as she felt for herself, but still…

"Wanna take a run together?" Luke turned to her and asked. "I mean, we both got boards..."

"Sure, if you can keep up!" Summer said as she launched herself down the mountain. She just wanted to get away from Seth and Anna, far, far away!

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Ryan was trying to keep his act together and not look like too much of a fool, but right now he was definitely losing his cool. The ski boots were hard to get on, he felt like he was breaking his ankle as he struggled to pull them over his feet. Marissa was no help, even though she had promised she would help him, but it looked like she was having trouble with her equipment. Finally he had the boots on and buckled, then he had to get into the skis, and judging by Seth and Marissa that seemed to be the hardest part. Then he realized all you had to do was stomp down and click in, really it wasn't so difficult.

"Can we go?" He asked impatiently, Marissa was leaning against Oliver and giggling, still missing a ski.

"Oh right," She blushed and quickly snapped in. Ryan help back a strong desire to punch Oliver squarely in the face. As if to avoid the situation further, she pushed off quickly with her poles and disappeared down the mountain.

"Catch me if you can!" She called over her shoulder.

"Oh it's on!" Oliver said, launching after her. Ryan stared at them with frustration, he didn't know how to skis, but he mimicked what they had done and pushed off with his poles. Suddenly he was moving, the thin ski blades gliding over the snow, gathering speed as the ground dropped out from under him down a steep hill. He was gathering too much speed now, and he didn't know how to stop. Suddenly a kid made a sharp turn in front of him. Ryan tried to skid to a stop, moving his feet in separate directions, and instantly tangling his ski blades and falling to the ground, he rolled a few feet, and his skis snapped off.

He let out a sigh of relief, when he realized he had come to a stop. Suddenly, he felt himself covered in a white shower of snow. "Woah, nice yard sale!" Oliver skied up to him, laughing. Marissa was right behind him, also laughing. Ryan didn't see what so funny, he had never been in skis before and he could have been seriously injured. He glanced up the hill and saw Seth and Anna making their way down the hill at a much slower and more reasonable pace, Anna seemed to be giving Seth some instruction.

"You know Ryan, you really shouldn't ski so aggressively, you could really hurt yourself!" Oliver lectured him. If there had been any chance of him managing to untangle his legs and get to his feet, Ryan would have jumped up and punch Oliver right then and there. The slipperiness of the slope was the only thing that kept that nose of his safe.

"Alright, let's get you up…" Marissa sighed, as if she was speaking to a child. "Oliver's right, you really shouldn't ski like that until you've had more practice. You could have been killed!"


	4. Chapter 4

A few runs later, Ryan was starting to get the hang of the sport. He had played lots of other sports, and was generally well balanced. It was pretty easy to ski slowly down the hill, his skis in a wedge, making small turns. He felt a little silly as he watched Oliver's perfect form, and Marissa, who was less perfect but always graceful, as she wound her way down the steep slope.

He could tell Oliver was beginning to get frustrated by the slow pace Ryan was setting. He was always down at the bottom of the mountain waiting, long before Ryan ever arrived. They had tried calling Seth and Anna, to see if Ryan could be pawned off on them- despite Ryan's objections, but that pair had already given up skiing for the day and were cuddled up inside Oliver's lodge. Ryan didn't blame them, as he glanced at Melissa. He was tired, and cuddling by a warm fire sounded very enjoyable, but she was clearly far from ready to head off the slopes.

"Maybe we could try a more difficult run?" Oliver suggested. "There's a black diamond that's nice and smooth down one side, and only has bumps on the other. Ryan, if you stayed to that side, I'm sure you'd be fine."

Ryan wanted to object, he looked to Marissa hopefully, "Yeah Ryan, that sounds good. That way Oliver can get some real skiing in. I feel bad that we've been dragging him up and down this bunny slope," She laughed.

"Or, Oliver could go take a few runs and meet us back here," Ryan suggested, his voice tight even as he tried not to sound annoyed. A dark cloud passed over Oliver's face.

"Yeah, that's fine. Just abandon me because my girlfriend couldn't show up… Ryan, if you don't want me around just say it!"

"Oliver, it's not like that at all!" Marissa protested, glaring at Ryan.

"Yeah, I see how it is. Fine, I'll go ski by myself, even though I was the one who invited you all out here. See you back at the lodge!" He turned and launched himself down the mountain.

Marissa shot an annoyed look at Ryan. "He's right, we're all supposed to be spending time together!" And with that she sped after Oliver down the slope. Ryan watched them go, feeling rather hopeless. They were going far too fast for Ryan to ever keep up with him. So much for togetherness… He thought as he looked around and realized he was completely alone on the ski slope, and he had no clue how to get back to the lodge. All the tree-lined slopes looked the same to him, and he lost his sense of direction as they followed along the white lines, that always seemed to lead to miraculously lead to a chair lift at the bottom.

Sighing, he decided to head down to the bottom of this run, maybe he could still catch them if they were in line or something. Not that he was really sure he wanted to…


	5. Chapter 5

By the time Ryan reached the bottom of the slope there was no sign of Marissa or Oliver. He felt a strong desire to hit something, but there was no one to hit, and he was surrounded by soft white snow, hardly ideal for getting in a good punch. Unsure what else to do, he got back on the chair lift and rode back to the top of the run. He decided that he mind as well stay on this slope, Marissa and Oliver would come looking for him eventually. Marissa would for sure, she had to right?

He began making his way slowly down the bottom, but began to pick up a little more speed. The cold wind felt good as it whipped across his face, and he began to enjoy himself. Suddenly, something hit him hard from behind. It almost took a moment to register, it happened so fast.

One moment he was upright, the icy slope was coming towards his face. He tried to regain his balance like he would have if he was walking, but in the cumbersome skies on the slippery slope he couldn't, and his legs got tangled as he fell. He thought he would lose momentum once he fell onto the ground, but he didn't, and he rolled partially down the mountain, losing a ski in the process.

When he finally stopped, he sat up and looked around. "Did you lose something?" A girl's voice asked, and his heart fluttered as he thought for a moment that it might be Marissa. He was disappointed when he turned around and it wasn't, but she was holding his ski. That was a relief.

"Yeah, thanks."

"That was a rough fall,"

"I'm going to be feeling that tomorrow."

"Beginner?"

"Yeah," Ryan admitted.

"My name's Connie, I'm a ski instructor here."

"Ryan," He noticed that Connie had very sparkly blue eyes.

"Think you can get up?" She asked.

"Yeah," She offered him a hand and pulled him to his feet and then helped him position the ski so he could pop back into the bindings. "Thanks," Ryan said, feeling truly grateful. He would have been in trouble without her help.

"No problem, I do this all day. Although usually I have to wipe up snot and tears."Ryan looked at her slightly askance, "I teach the Brown Bear group," Seeing that he still didn't understand, "The young skiers, like five, six. So you know, they're not as tough as you." She laughed.

"Oh right," Ryan felt embarrassed. There were five year olds that did this sport? Now that Connie mentioned, he noticed several minature skiers whizzing by on the slope.

"It's an easier sport to learn when you're a kid, they're fearless. Adults know how much falling actually hurts."

"Yeah, this is my first time."

"I have some free time, do you want some pointers?"

"Yeah, that'd be great."

For the next two hours Connie and Ryan skied up and down the bunny slope. Ryan was starting to get the hang of it much better than if he had been on his own. They reached the bottom and Connie looked at her watch, "Sorry Ryan, but I gotta jet. I have to get back to the paying customers."

"Thanks a lot for helping me out today."

"No problem,"

"Do you wanna… Get coffee or something later?"

"Wow, you really are a new skier," She laughed.

"What?"

"We're on the slopes, you get cocoa. And yeah, that'd be great. Ski lodge at four?"

"Sure," Ryan said, feeling happy. It wasn't cheating on Marissa, it was getting cocoa with a new friend.

It was almost four and Ryan decided to take one last run before he met up with Connie. There was still no sign of Marissa or Oliver, so he decided to get cocoa with Connie then call Seth or Luke and ask them to come pick him up at the base lodge. He didn't Oliver or Marissa and his drama, and he set off down the mountain feeling pretty good about himself and his skiing skills. Suddenly, he realized he had picked up a little too much speed. The slope, churned up by a day of skiers, was covered in moguls and icy patches. He managed to slow himself slightly, when for the second time that day, something came up and hit him hard. This time it was on the side. Ryan lost his balance and accidentally stepped on one ski the other, then his legs crossed. He came down hard on his side, his knee striking an icy patch. As he looked up, his assailant was getting away. Wearing a coat just like the one Oliver wore. A figure who looked just like Marissa followed shortly after, but clearly hadn't seen the incident. Ryan struggled to his feet, his knee throbbing painfully. He gritted his teeth, and slowly wound his way down the mountain.

It was a relief when the lodge came into sight. He took off his skies and limped into the lobby. Connie was waiting there. For the first time, Ryan got a really good look at her. She had long blonde, very curly hair, big blue eyes and her cheeks were tinged with pink from the cold.

"Ryan! Hey!" She spotted him and waved enthusiastically.

"Hey," He tried not to limp as he walked toward her, but she noticed.

"Ryan, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He didn't like strangers asking after his health.

"I know I've never not seen you on skies, buy you're limping. Did you fall?"

"Yeah…" _Or I was pushed._

"You know I'm friends with the ski patrol guys, I could have them look at it."

"Really, I'm fine."

"Okay…" She seemed unconvinced, but whatever. That was her problem Ryan Atwood did not get hurt. "I'll go get us some cocoa." She said. Ryan would have argued but she was already off and running. He noticed she had already swapped her ski boots for a pair of Uggs. She returned a minute later and put a hot cup of cocoa in front of Ryan.

"So where are you staying?"

"A friend has a place, a bunch of us are staying with him."

"That's cool."

"Do you live here, year round?"

"Nah, just for the winters. During the summer's I got to Colorado and teach Outward Bound,"

"What?"

"Outward Bound? We take out groups of kids, take them hiking, rock climbing, white water rafting, teach them survival skills… It's really fun. What about you? What do you do when you're not falling down the sides of mountains?"

"I'm in school,"

"Oh yeah, where?"

That seemed like an odd question, "Here in California,"

She laughed, "No I meant like, what school? UCLA? Berkley?"

"I'm still in high school," He laughed a little.

"What?" She looked at him slightly aghast.

"Yeah…"

"Oh crap, you have got to be kidding me!"

"What?"

"You're a baby! Oh jeez, I gotta go. You're probably not even 18…"

"Well no… but…" She was already up. "I'll see you around… God, I hope no one ever finds out about this. I'll never hear the end of it! I got cocoa with a high schooler!" She walked off laughing at herself. Ryan sighed and stood, but halfway up, his knee decided it wasn't really in the mood for standing, and fell back into his chair.

"Wow… This just keeps getting better…" He muttered to himself.


	6. Chapter 6

Ryan sat in the ski lodge debating what to do. His knee was throbbing, maybe he should have taken Connie up on that offer to have ski patrol check him out. He needed to call someone and have them pick him up he decided. He just needed to get home, and get some ice on his knee. Maybe Seth could come get him…

"Chino?" A familiar voice spoke, Ryan turned around and had never been so relieved to see Summer Roberts.

"Hey Summer," Ryan actually managed a smile, he was very happy to see her, but Summer looked less than thrilled to see him.

"Where's Marissa? And Oliver? I thought you were all together."

Ryan sighed, "Well we were, they took off down the mountain, and I haven't seen them since."

"They left you all alone? Really?" Ryan shrugged, he decided to leave out the side note about his adventures with Connie.

"Pretty much…" He admitted, "Weren't you with Luke?"

"Oh yeah, he's getting us some cocoa. Then we were gonna take a lift back up and ski back to the house." Summer blushed slightly. Was she embarrassed about getting cocoa with Luke? Wait… was she actually enjoying spending time with him? Ryan smirked to himself.

"Chino?" Luke came up, holding the two cups of cocoa. "What are you doing here?" He did not sound happy to see Ryan.

"Ah… I was gonna call Seth…" He fumbled for his phone. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he decided maybe he'd better get out of the way.

"No, it's fine. I just thought you were with Marissa." Luke said, exchanging a glance with Summer as he gave her the cocoa, Summer seemed to deliberately avoid the eye contact.

"Yeah, he got ditched." Summer said, shaking her head and picking up her cocoa. She didn't seem deeply concerned.

"Really, that sucks man. Have you been on your own all day?"

"Well… sorta…"

"I can't believe Marissa would do that to you. That's totally bogus." Summer interjected. "You can ski back with us,"

"Right…" Ryan said, feeling relieved then slightly panicked. He could barely stand, how was he going to ski? But he really didn't want to admit weakness in front of Luke.

"Yeah… Ski back with us…" Luke growled. Okay, now Ryan was sure he had done something wrong, but he wasn't sure what. They finished their cocoa and got redressed and ready to head back out.

Ryan's knee fired angry warning shots of pain as he stood, but he managed to get to his feet and stay there.

Somehow, they managed to make it back to the lodge without incident, even though they barely spoke. Ryan was in too much pain to take the effort to form words, Luke kept looking at Summer funny, and Summer was staring straight ahead, as if to avoid interactions with anybody.

They stumbled back into the lodge and found Seth and Anna cuddled in front of roaring fire.

"Hey! Close that door, you're letting the cold air in!" Seth hollered.

"Wow Seth, you actually a built a fire…" Luke joked and Ryan smiled, he hadn't thought Seth had much Boy Scout in him.

"No, I built it." Anna smiled.

"Fine, take away my manliness." Seth made a face. Ryan would have stuck around but right now all he wanted was a bed. Oh right, it was a bunk bed, so that would have to wait, until at least he iced his knee a little.

He went into his room and stripped off his wet gear. "Ryan, I…" The door opened and Summer barged into the room, as he was down to his boxers. "Oh jeez, I'm sorry!" She stopped for a moment and let herself check out his six- pack. "Nice…" She said, before she backed out of the room.

Chuckling to himself, Ryan pulled on a pair of sweats, and a t-shirt and his familiar hoodie, then he limped out of the room and into the kitchen to find some ice.

"Ryan, sorry, I just wanted to know if you wanted anything. We were going to order some Chinese food."

"Oh, yeah, wanton soup would be good and some spare ribs."

"Alright, we'll put it down." Summer made on a pad then left to find out everyone else's order, and call her wayward friend. She really didn't want to be in a house with these people, especially Luke after they had… Oh never mind. She was going to pretend that didn't happen.

Ryan found the ice in the kitchen and filled a plastic bag then dropped down on the couch and put the ice over his knee. Luke was already there watching football. "You okay?" He asked, nodding at the ice pack.

Ryan nodded, "Yeah, just strained it a little I think." In truth he really hadn't even looked at it.

"It was stupid of Marissa to leave you alone up there like that. You could have gotten seriously hurt."

"Yeah…" Ryan refrained from mentioning that his only falls had been because someone had skied into him, seemingly quite deliberately.

"Beer?" From out of nowhere it seemed, Luke managed to produce one.

"Yeah, thanks." It probably wasn't a good idea to mix the Advils he had taken with it, but well, he really needed both.

They relaxed in silence for awhile, and finished their first beers and started on round 2. "Sure your knee's okay?" Luke asked again. Ryan glared at him and Luke dropped the subject. "I kissed Summer." Luke said, after a moment's pause.

"What?" Ryan almost dropped his beer.

"I don't know how it happened… One minute we were just talking, and the next we were kissing. It was weird. And then I asked her to get some cocoa with me before we came back here… Then we saw you… Then she started acting really weird. I think she's kind of embarrassed that she kissed me."

"That's okay, I've been abandoned twice today by girls."

"Really?"

"Yeah, first Marissa who went off with Oliver. Then…." Ryan started to laugh, "This ski instructor found me after I fell. We skied around for awhile then I asked her to meet me for coffee in the Lodge. I figured, what could it hurt, and I owed her one."

"She hot?"

"Kind hard to tell with all those clothes, you know?" Luke laughed, "But yeah she had a pretty face. Anyway, we went down to the lodge and started talking. She found out I was high school. I've never seen a girl turn and run so fast."

Luke laughed, "Oh man, that's a good one."

"To women," Ryan raised his beer in a toast.

"You can say that again," Luke clinked his beer against Ryan's.


	7. Chapter 7

"Marissa! Where have you been?" Summer practically pounced on her friend the moment she walked through the door. She had been bored and restless. Seth and Anna had snuck off to their bedroom and locked her out… And Luke and Ryan seemed to be working on getting drunk while watching football. And truth be told, she really just wanted to avoid Luke.

"Sorry Summer, we got so caught up skiing, we didn't even notice what time it was!" Oliver laughed.

"Or that you had somehow lost Ryan?"

"We left him on the bunny slope, and when we went back to look for him he was gone. I just assumed he got tired of skiing and went home." Oliver shrugged non- chalantly.

"Did he make it home?" Marissa asked.

"Yes, he did." Summer seethed, she couldn't believe how her friend was acting. "Your _boyfriend_ made it home."

"Jeez Summer, calm down. I said we went to look for him."

"Oh whatever," Summer stormed off, she decided she needed a beer that the boys were hoarding, even if that meant conversing with Luke.

"What was that all about?" Oliver asked. "He made it home, what's the big deal?"

"I dunno… Now what about that cocoa you promised me?"

"They understand I needed you right?"

"Of course, don't worry. Summer's just being… Summer. Really, it's nothing to worry about."

"Alright," Oliver smiled looking relieved.

"Oh, you guys are home?" Seth and Anna appeared, "We were just heading out to get the Chinese food we ordered."

"Oh great, I hope you guys ordered spare ribs!" Oliver smiled. "Here's some money," He handed them several twenties before they could protest.

"Can I have a beer?" Summer asked, when she found Ryan and Luke, who had already worked their way through several judging by the empty bottles.

"Sure," Luke handed her one, but didn't look at her.

"Marissa and Oliver are back,"

"Yeah, that's nice." Ryan rolled his eyes, Marissa hadn't even come looking for him.

"What's wrong with you knee?"

"Nothing," Ryan muttered automatically.

"You know, I took a CPR- course, that means I'm practically a trained EMT, you should let me look at it." Before Ryan could protest, she had pulled off the ice, pulled the pillow out from underneath it(Luke's idea) and ripped up his pant leg.

"Ow Summer! Jeez!' Ryan protested, strongly resisting the urge to kick her off of him with his good leg, her actions sent stabbing pains through his leg.

"Oh come on Chino, I thought you were tougher than that. Woah… you're knee's really swollen…" She poked it. "Does that hurt?"

"Yes, now get off." Something about his tone of voice told her that he meant it, and she quickly back away. She watched Ryan grimace hard as he readjusted himself, propping his leg back up and putting the ice back on it.

"I think you should go to a doctor."

"I thought you were a doctor." Ryan's knee was still throbbing after Summer's "examination."

"We're out of cocoa! So we're going to get some!" Marissa's voice called out from another room.

"Back in a little bit!" Oliver yelled, the front door opened and then slammed.

Ryan sighed, and seemed extremely disheartened, "She could have at least said hi..." Neither Luke nor Summer knew what to say to that.

"Ryan, if your knee's messed up, we should take you to the ER."

"Food will be here soon." Ryan said.

"Food can wait, come on." Summer slapped his leg, as she was accustomed to doing to boys when she wanted them to move, and Ryan yelped with pain. "Oh sorry!" Ryan clenched his hands and bit his lip to keep from screaming.

"Okay, I think we need to go the doctor." Luke said. "Summer, can you drive?"

Summer sighed, "Whatever…"

"What is taking them so long?" Summer complained. She was hungry and she was worried the food would be gone long before they got back.

"We've only been here like an hour," Luke cautioned her. "These things take awhile."

"But I'm hungry."

"So, go find a snack machine."

"What's eating you?"

"You are Summer."

"What? Why?"

"Because… We kiss… And then you want to pretend like nothing happened!" Summer quickly shut up and turned to face forward. That was not a conversation she wanted to have, even as her mouth seemed to remember the taste of his minty- fresh breath.

She picked up a two month old issue of People and pretended to be interested in the already-out-of-date sex lives of celebrities. Sighing, Luke picked up a Sports Illustrated.

It was another hour before Ryan appeared, limping on crutches. "You alright man?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, it's just a sprain. I need to follow- up with knee doctor in a week, but it's not that bad. They put an ace bandage on it, and it feels better, and I got a prescription for the pain."

"Alright, well, then let's go home." Luke said.

"Kirsten is going to freak…" Ryan muttered.

"Yup…" Summer agreed.


	8. Chapter 8

When they made it back to the lodge, Ryan gingerly climbed out of the car, balancing as carefully as he could on the slick ice. He was half- looking foward to and half- dreading facing Marissa. He didn't want her to feel guilty per- se, what happened on the ski slopes was probably an accident, and even if it wasn't... Well, he could forgive Marissa a little stupidity, as long as she managed to eventually come to her senses.

What worried him was that she wouldn't and now he was out of commission. As much as he didn't want to admit the truth but he knew his knee was bad. The doctor at the 24- hour clinic had barely glanced at it. He had spent most of the two hours sitting alone in a cold room, his knee alternating between aching and sending sharp shooting pains signals to his brain. When the doctor had finally seen him he had told him to go home, ice it, and keep it elevated and muttered gruff instructions to see an orthopedist if it still hurt in a week. He scribbled down a prescription for naproxen, which Ryan knew was just a high dosage of Aleve. Then a nurse came in to put an Ace bandage on it to keep the swelling down. She had tut- tutted and said he should probably go to the ER, and then taken pity on him when he'd started to limp away, and offered him crutches. She seemed to know that the doctor did not actually dispense any sort of valuable medical advice to Ryan, or probably to any patients who came through his door.

He hadn't wanted to take the crutches, but offered the choice between using them or trying to use his knee, the crutches seemed like a safer bet. He had tried testing the knee a few times, and found it strongly resisted taking any weight. He had tried to put a brave face on it when he saw Summer and Luke in the waiting room. He was grateful that they had been nice enough to take him to the local clinic. He didn't want to ask anything else of them. At first they had said maybe they should go to the hospital, but that was a trek and Ryan didn't feel up to it. He had just wanted to go to the clinic, get some pain killers, go home and get some sleep.

He looked up and saw Summer looking at him with pity in her eyes. He wasn't sure if it was because he was obviously beat up, or because she knew it should have been Marissa out in the snow with him. Marissa should have been the one to take him to the clinic

"Ryan?" Luke's voice snapped him back to the present, and his predicament of trying to navigate safely into the house while staying balanced on the crutches, which so far he hadn't mastered. "You okay? Need any help?"

"Nah, I'm cool." Ryan said, and placed the crutches under his arm and slowly began tapping his way up to the front porch. He had almost made it when he put one of the crutches down on a patch of ice, and it slid out from underneath him. In a desperate attempt to stop himself from falling he tried to put his bad leg underneath him, but it buckled the moment he put pressure on it, and he fell to the ground. Summer was at his side almost instantly.

"Oh my God, are you alright?" She asked, brushing her hair out of her face. He grimaced.

"Yeah..." He grunted, his knee was throbbing, he wasn't sure how much more pain he could tolerate.

"Need a hand?" Luke helped him to his feet, and Ryan didn't bother resisting. Summer helped him reposition the crutches. The door opened and Seth appeared in the doorway, drawn out by the commotion.

"Hey, we were wondering where you all went off to... What are you all doing out here?" The Luke moved away from where he had been standing in front of Ryan and un- blocked Seth's view. "Ryan!" Seth cried out, surprised at seeing his step brother clearly injured and for a moment he seemed at a loss for words.

Ryan decided he might as well explain indoors rather than outside, and ignored Seth's wide-eyed stare and limped past him into the house. Unsure what else to do, Seth decided to resort his usual method of communication- sarcasm, "Ryan, did you get into a fight with the abominable snow man?" Ryan had made it to the couch and collapsed onto it, trying to keep from bending his knee, then turned and glared again at Seth. The look told Seth that at the moment, humor was not appreciated.

Seth decided to take the situation a little more seriously, and immediately a thousand questions bubbled to the surface: "What's wrong with you? Did you guys to the hospital? Did you call Mom and Dad? Why didn't you tell me something was wrong?" The questions tumbled out without Seth pausing to take a breath.

"No Seth, I haven't told them..." Ryan said choosing to only answer one of the questions- the easiest to answer, and seeing his brother reaching for the phone, "Don't you dare call them and get them panicked, I'm fine!" Ryan snapped at him.

Seth's hand slid away from his pocket, and as if he was unsure what to do with the hand, he ran it through his hair, and scratched his head, looking uncertainly at Ryan. He was pretty sure Ryan wasn't "fine" but he also could tell Ryan wasn't in the mood to be answering his questions. "So where did you go just now?" Seth asked finally, they had obviously seen a doctor or something, where else had Ryan gotten the crutches? He glanced at Luke and Summer, who hovered anxiously around Ryan. Summer had been looking at her cell phone, but she snapped it shut quickly.

"There's a 24 hour clinic near here, we saw where we were driving up. We took him there." Summer explained glancing at Ryan and then looking around for Anna, who was nowhere in sight. She felt a slight moment of glee, surely Seth had to notice that she had been the one taking care of his brother. Would Anna have done that?

"Do you want anything Ryan? Maybe some water? Some Tylenol maybe? Ice pack?" Anna had somehow materialized out of thin air next to Ryan on the couch. How did she do that? Summer felt a flash of anger and wished she had thought of asking Ryan if he had needed anything.

"I'm fine thanks." Ryan said, looking around sadly at the gathered group, "Where's Marissa?" The moment froze as everyone looked around for her aimlessly, as if she was right there in the room and they had somehow not seen her, but it was obvious that neither she nor Oliver were at the lodge.

"Uhmm... Guess they went out." Seth said lamely. The two of them had appeared briefly and eaten some Chinese food, and then left again. Seth had been preoccupied… He glanced guiltily at Anna.

Ryan looked angry, then he flipped open his cell phone and dialed Marissa's number. Everyone tried to look away and act like they were interested in something else. Luke and Summer wandered off to the kitchen to see what was left of the Chinese food. They were starving, but both had an ear cocked for Ryan's conversation with Marissa. They wondered what he was going to say to her, and what she would have to say to him. Where was she anyway?


	9. Chapter 9

"Ryan?" Marissa sounded like she was surprised to hear from Ryan, which annoyed him. He was her boyfriend for god's sake, and he had neither seen nor heard from her all damn day, not since she had left up there on that mountain.

"Yeah? It's me. Where are you?"

"Oliver and I went to the movies. We wanted to ask you to come with us but you weren't home. Shouldn't I be asking you where you were? I went to the grocery store, and when I got back like ten minutes later you were gone! I was really upset. I thought you were mad at me or something. I asked Oliver to take me to the movies because I didn't wanna sit around at home with you ignoring me, and not bothering to tell me where you were!" Ryan almost laughed when he heard that, but he was in too much pain to think much was very funny. She had been wondering where _he_ was? Ugh- that was a little too ironic.

"Well, are you coming home?" He asked. At this point, he didn't care who should have communicated with who- he just really wanted to see her.

"Yeah, the movie just got out." Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. He was kind of mad at Marissa, yes, but more than anything, he wanted her there, stroking his hair, talking to him, just sitting with him...

"Okay, see you soon." Ryan said, feeling some of the tension releasing from his shoulders.

"Yeah, bye."


	10. Chapter 10

"Where are they?" Ryan asked, for probably the tenth time in the last five minutes. He had spoken to Marissa almost two hours ago and he still hadn't heard from her. She should have been back by now. Unless she and Oliver had driven back to Orange County to see the movie. He picked up his cell phone and dialed her again, but her phone just rang several times without an answer.

Luke shrugged, and tried to surreptitiously glance at his watch. He knew Ryan was injured and wouldn't be skiing tomorrow, but he wanted to be able to hit the slopes in the morning, and he needed to get some sleep. It had been a long day and it was already past midnight. Still, he didn't want to abandon Ryan on the couch. He looked so forlorn, with his bad leg propped up on a pillow, and he had dark circles under his eyes. The guy, who Luke had once feared slightly- although he would never admit it out loud, right now just looked kind of pathetic.

Seth shuffled into the room though, as if he had gotten a silent signal that it was time for changing of the guards. "Hey Ryan," He flopped down on the couch. "Ooh, kung foo!" He said, pretending to be delighted by the movie playing on the TV, which had bad dubbing and worse action.

"Hey," Ryan gave him a slight nod of the head.

"How's your knee?" Seth dared to ask.

"Hurts," Was all Ryan said.

"Like, bad?"

"Yes." His clipped tone told Seth to drop the subject, but Seth ignored it.

"You really should call Mom,"

"I'd rather not."

"Why? Worried she'll be on the next plane here?" Seth joked, then realized that it was probably the truth. "Yeah, let her live in blissfull ignorance."

"Hey, I'm gonna head to bed." Luke tried to sound casual, and not like he had been waiting for an excuse to leave Ryan on the couch.

"Night," Ryan muttered, slightly jealous. He wanted to go to bed, but he wanted to see Marissa more, besides, the prospecting of moving seemed daunting. His knee hurt even when kept completely still, and even the smallest shifts of weight sent strong stabs of pain up and down his leg. He wanted an ice pack and a lot of pain killers, but he had already taken as much Aleve as he dared, especially considering the fact that he had been drinking earlier in the afternoon, and he was not going to bother trooping all the way to the kitchen just to get an ice pack.

After Luke left, Seth made a half- hearted attempt to talk about comic books, but gave up when Ryan did little more than grunt one word responses. When Ryan's phone rang, both of them jumped slightly, startled by the sudden burst of song. "Marissa?" Ryan grabbed it.

"Hey Ryan..." Her voice was soft.

"What's wrong?" Instantly he was on alert, he sat up and swung his legs around, ready to spring into action and fly to her rescue, as always.

"No... It was a deer..."

"A what?"

"A deer jumped in front of the car... The car's totalled... Oliver's kinda

banged up... We're at the hospital."

"So you're okay?" Ryan felt himself flood with relief. Oliver being hurt, well... That just seemed like karma.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Can you come get us?" Ryan was about to jump to his feet

and race to the car, but then he remembered his own injury.

"Uhh... Yeah, we'll be right there." Ryan said and hung up the phone. Seth was looking at him funny, "A deer hit their car..."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I need to go get them."

"Seriously?" Seth looked less than enthused about this mission. "If Anna wakes up and I'm not there... Can't you just go?" Ryan sighed, then got up and limped off to find Luke, not bothering with his crutches. "Oh Ryan, sorry, I forgot about your knee."

"It's fine," Ryan said, trying to pretend like every step wasn't making tears spring into his eyes. He pounded on Luke's door. "Luke? You awake?"

"Yeah?" A bleary eyed Luke appeared in the doorway. "What's wrong?"

"There's been an accident."

"What?" Luke stared at him in disbelief. Could anything else go wrong today? Well technically it was tomorrow...

"Marissa said the car hit a deer or something… They're at the hospital. She asked me to come get her."

"Tell them to take a taxi," Luke said irritably. "It's not like you can drive right now…"

"I know," Ryan said.

"Oh god dammit…" Luke muttered under his breath, yes, clearly Ryan could not drive and there for it was going to be up to him to pilot their mission. Now he knew why Ryan had so rudely jolted him awake with all the pounding at the door. The only question was why Seth wasn't driving, but whatever. He was up now. Mind as well go and rescue Marissa.

"So it was a deer?" Luke asked as they headed for the door.

"Yeah," Luke watched as Ryan limped painfully towards the car, he winced inwardly just watching Ryan struggle.

"Shouldn't you bring your crutches dude?" The guy could barely walk.

"Nah, I'm fine." Ryan's voice was short and clipped, the effort of walking was clearly a strain.

"Whatever dude," Luke climbed into his truck and started up the engine, yawning and rubbing away the last of the sleep from his eyes.


	11. Chapter 11

"So, as long as we're here wanna see a real doctor?" Luke joked as they sat in the ER and waited for Oliver and Marissa to appear. Well, really he wasn't joking. Ryan clearly needed medical attention. The just the walk from the car into the ER had clearly been a strain on him, so much so that when Ryan managed to limp through the doors a nurse actually went up to him and asked if she could help them get signed in.

"I just wanna find Marissa, and get out of here." Ryan said gruffly. Although a shot of morphine would be nice. It had been a long drive, and even though he could tell Luke was driving carefully for his sake, every bump in the road had jostled his knee and made it cry out in pain, he had had to work hard to keep himself from crying out as well, although he had grunted a few times, earning himself anxious looks from Luke. He stared down at the ground, willing himself not to start crying. God, it really f'ing hurt.

It was a relief to get to the waiting room and sink into the cushioned chair that looked a lot more comfortable than it actually was. Still, it wasn't moving, that was a small relief. He sank into it, and let the waves of pain wash over him gradually subsiding slightly, and tried to keep his leg as still as possible.

A few moments went by when Luke tapped him on the shoulder. Ryan glanced up and first looked at Luke and when Luke gave Ryan a nod, he looked around the room expectantly. Then he saw her. As if by magic, she had appeared from out behind the double doors that led back into the rest of the hospital from the waiting room. Ryan wanted to jump up and run to her, unable to do so, he settled for getting up from his chair and limp- walking as quickly to her as possible. He tried to hide limp, but knew he was unsuccessful, its hard to hide a limp when your knee won't even cooperate with the simplest of commands like "bend"- and he couldn't really put weight on it. Oh well, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she noticed that he was injured…

"Thank god you're here," She hugged him hard. "Oliver's pretty banged up, but I think he'll feel better when he knows you came all the way out here for him." Ryan almost fell over.

"I didn't come here for Oliver, I came here for you." He said, to clear up the matter.

"Why? I'm fine. It's Oliver who needs us. He was so worried you'd be mad at him, but your being here proves that you have nothing against him."

"Why would I be mad at him?" The question was supposed to be rhetorical.

"Well, because I've been spending so much time with him today. He was worried you'd get jealous."

"I can't imagine why…" Ryan muttered. "So can we get him and get going? It's pretty late…" And Ryan wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to remain standing.

"Well, he's pretty doped up but I'll go and see." Marissa said, then turned and disappeared behind the swinging doors.

"So? What's the deal?" Luke came up behind Ryan.

Ryan sighed, "I dunno… She rushed off to see if Oliver can leave…" Suddenly, without warning, his knee buckled and he would fallen except Luke caught him.

"Woah… Easy there…" He helped Ryan regain his balance. "Maybe you'd better sit down,"

"Yeah…" Ryan didn't bother to protest as Luke kept Ryan's arm firmly over his shoulders and helped him to the nearest chair, then slid him down into it, like they were teammates on a soccer field. The nurse who had tried to assist them when they first came in was on them like a hawk.

"Are you sure you don't need medical attention?" Ryan noticed that she was young and actually rather pretty. Although her words were professional, from the way she was looking at him and Luke, Ryan decided she was probably having slightly less-than-professional thoughts.

"Yes, my friend here absolutely needs medical attention." As her gaze focused on Ryan, Ryan saw Luke peering over her shoulder to look at her butt. He couldn't help chuckling slightly. Alright, for Luke's sake, he could put up with a quick examination, as long as he didn't end up actually being admitted. He felt like he owed Luke that much.

"Let me guess, skiing accident?"

"Yeah…" Ryan admitted.

"We get a lot of those in here. What's injured? Hip, knee, ankle?"

"Knee… But I already went to a clinic, they said it was fine and that it just needed rest."

"The one right next to the mountain?" The nurse asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Yeah… Why?"

"Because that doesn't count as medical attention. Trust me." She said, and having experienced the clinic for himself, Ryan believed her.

"Does this hurt?" She asked, gingerly probing his knee.

"Nope, not at all." Ryan smiled, relieved to have gotten off so easily.

"It's the other knee," Luke clued her in. Ryan glared at him.

"This one?" She gave the same gentle squeeze, and Ryan gasped out loud and his eyes went wide at the sudden explosion of pain.

"Yeah," Luke smiled smugly, glad to have proved that Ryan really did need a real doctor.

"It's bandaged… It's hard to tell how swollen it is…" The nurse stood back and looked back and forth between the two legs, "But I'd say it's probably experiencing significant swelling."

"It's fine, really."

"You shouldn't be walking around on it." Well, that Ryan already knew.

"I know, I just… My friends are here, we came to get them in such a rush that I forgot my crutches. I'm going home tomorrow, I promise my parents will take me to an orthopedist."

Luke didn't believe for a second that he had any plans to visit an orthopedist, but the pretty nurse seemed to buy the story. "Alright, but be gentle with it. Who are your friends by the way?" Ryan gave their names.

"Ah yes," she glanced at her chart, the frowned.

"What?"

"Ah… nothing. Have a good night," She turned and hurried away from them.

"I'm going to find out what that was about…" Luke said, and before Ryan could respond he had hurried after the nurse. He returned a few moments later, looking somewhere between highly amused and seriously pissed off. "You have got to be kidding me." He sank down in a chair next to Ryan, "I heard her talking to the other nurses."

"And?"

"And, nothing is wrong with the guy."

"Huh?"

"Oliver, there's nothing wrong with him. He came in complaining and crying, absolutely hysterical, so they did a complete examination, and found absolutely nothing wrong with him."

"Are you serious?" Ryan stared at him with disbelief, not sure if he wanted to laugh or cry. "So why are we still here?"

"I don't know," Luke sank into the chair and sighed. "You know, it's messed up."

"Huh?"

"You're hurt… Marissa should be with you at the lodge right now taking care of you, and instead she's in there," he gestured towards the doors, "with that _faker_. It's messed up."

Ryan didn't want to hear what Luke was saying. It was true, of course, but acknowledging it was just too painful.


	12. Chapter 12

"I swear, if they don't appear soon, we should just go home." Luke said, crossing his arms and glaring angrily at the double doors. Ryan secretly agreed, but he wasn't going to leave his girlfriend alone with Oliver. "How are you feeling?" He asked. Ryan shrugged, what was there to say? He had been wondering in his head if it would hurt more or less if he just sawed his leg off with chainsaw.

"Why don't you go? We could get a cab or something," Ryan offered. It really wasn't fair to Luke that he was stuck here. He wasn't dating Marissa. He was only here because Ryan couldn't drive.

Luke shrugged, "Nah, I'll wait."

As if on cue, Marissa appeared, "Hey," Ryan sat forward, but didn't even try to stand up.

"Hey guys," she looked tired, and she rolled her neck like it was sore. Ryan grabbed her hand and pulled her into the chair next to him, without a word, he gently began to kneed her neck. "Thanks, that feels good. It's kind of stiff,"

"Yeah," Ryan said, "Any word on Oliver?"

"Yeah, he's still in so much pain and they can't find anything, so they're going to run some more tests. Make sure they didn't miss anything."

"Like the fact that he's faking it?" Luke asked.

"What?" Marissa snapped her head towards him, then winced slightly.

"Nothing…" Luke muttered. "How much longer?"

"I dunno, they're sending him down for another CT scan."

"Great," Luke rolled his eyes. He was in for at least another 2 hours of waiting, but he wasn't going to abandon Ryan. The poor guy looked like he was about to faint, how did Marissa not notice? "Think you can hold out Ryan?" He asked, pointedly. He knew Ryan hadn't told Marissa yet.

Ryan glared at him, "I'm fine."

"Why? What's wrong?" It had worked, Marissa snapped to attention.

"Eh, nothing." Ryan said.

"He hurt his knee skiing," Luke answered for him.

"Is it okay?" Marissa had the decency to sound concerned.

"It's fine," Ryan snarled, shooting daggers at Luke.

"Let me put it to you this way Marissa," Luke got up and walked about three feet away. "Ryan, your mother is a drunk who would have left you for dead you and you are a pansy living off the sweat of the Cohen's probably waiting until you can rob them. And I've done your girlfriend." For a moment, Luke flinched. A normal Ryan would have thrown at least three punches by now. This Ryan just sat there looking angry and clenching his fists, but making no attempts to move.

"I'm going to get you back for that," Ryan growled.

"Luke, why did you say that?" Marissa stared at Luke, and then at Ryan. She was really impressed by how well Ryan was keeping his anger in check, but shouldn't he at least try and defend her honor? Not just sit there and mutter at Luke?

"To prove a point." Luke relaxed and crossed his arms. "Ryan can't walk right now, in fact, I don't even think he can stand. If you weren't so busy with that faker in there, you might have noticed. Look at him!" Marissa did, "He's sweating, and its not hot in here, he's ghost white, and have you not noticed that he's been sitting with his leg completely straight in front of him this whole time? Kind of an awkward position if you ask me." He walked closed to Ryan, and raised his foot as if he were about kick Ryan's foot. Out of instinct, and nervous about how far Luke was willing to go, Ryan grabbed his knee to try and brace it against the impact. The wave of dizzying pain never came, and when he looked up, Luke had lowered his foot, and Marissa was staring at him.

"Maybe you should see a doctor…" She offered, peering intently at him.

"About time you noticed, jeez…" Luke slumped down into a chair, still a safe distance from Ryan who looked absolutely furious.

"Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?"

"You were just in a car accident… I didn't…" Ryan reached up and wiped away the sweat from his brow. He hadn't even noticed until Luke pointed it out.

"Does it hurt?" Marissa asked gently.

"Yeah," Ryan admitted.

"Hey nurse," Luke gestured a nurse who was nearby- not the pretty one unfortunately, "I think my friend needs medical attention." She looked around the group of kids, unsure what was going on. These guys had been here for hours, now they decided they needed medical attention? As if on cue, although it was an accident, Marissa accidentally bumped Ryan's out – stretched leg with her foot. Tears immediately sprang to Ryan's eyes, and he doubled forward, grabbing his leg as if to try and stop the pain radiating through it, and let out a small, strangled cry of pain.

"I'll get a wheelchair…" The nurse said, hustling away.

"Thanks," Luke smiled, and leaned back, glad Ryan would finally be getting the medical attention he desperately needed.


	13. Chapter 13

Now Luke was really bored. He was glad Ryan was being seen by the doctors, but now he and Marissa were gone, and he was all on his own. As if to make up for her earlier behavior, Marissa had been hovering intently over Ryan, and bombarding both him and Luke with questions.

"Hey," Oliver appeared suddenly. His arm was in a sling and his neck was in brace, he was moving stiffly. Suddenly Luke found himself questioning his earlier "faker" judgement.

"Where's Marissa?" He asked.

"She's around here somewhere," Luke said vaguely.

"Oh," Oliver straightened up, and took off the neck brace- with his bad arm. "God, that thing is hot." Luke tried not to stare at him. "Yeah, don't tell Marissa, she's a great nurse."

"Sure thing buddy," Luke smiled. Just wait until Oliver encountered the injured Ryan. "So the car's totaled?"

"Yup," He seemed unconcerned.

"Sucks, didn't think a deer could do that much damage."

"We didn't hit a deer. We hit a tree."

"Oh, so you swerved to avoid hitting the deer?"

"Not really… I uh…" He glanced around and lowered his voice, "I guess I was driving a little fast and the car fishtailed. I didn't want anyone to know the accident was my fault so I told everyone there was a deer. That's good thinking, right?" He elbowed Luke as if he was pleased with himself.

"Brilliant…" Luke tried to smile, but inside he wanted to strangle Oliver. There had been no deer. The crash had been Oliver's own damn fault. He'd had to drag poor injured Ryan all the way up here and now it was nearly 3am. There was no way he was going to be able go snow boarding tomorrow. Although, if they hadn't come out here for Marissa and Oliver, Ryan never would have entered the ER.

"I thought Ryan came with you," Oliver looked around, and picked up his neck brace and put it back on, again with his supposedly bad arm.

"He did…"

"Is Marissa with Ryan?" Oliver's face suddenly darkened.

"I think so," Luke said, trying to sound innocent.

"Well where are they?" He's voice suddenly sounded ominous.

"I don't know, they went back there." He gestured to the double doors.

"Oh, to look for me?" As if this was the obvious answer.

"No," Luke told him.

"I told Marissa earlier she needed to have her neck looked at…"

"Marissa's fine. She'd probably be better if you hadn't driven a car into a tree…"

Oliver ignored that comment, "So why are they back there?"

"It's Ryan, the doctors wanted to have a look at him."

"What for?" Oliver looked confused.

"To look at his knee, what else?"

"What's wrong with his knee?" Oliver looked scared for a moment.

"Oh, that's right, you haven't seen him. " Luke said, as if he had forgotten, but he was enjoying torturing Oliver. "He hurt his knee skiing today, and we were here for so long waiting for you, Marissa convinced him that he mind as well get it looked at." Luke shrugged, as if he hadn't been the one behind the whole thing, and he thought Marissa was just being silly. "I'm sure he's fine,"

"Good," Oliver looked relieved, but Luke didn't think it was out of concern for Ryan's health. "So where are they? I'm tired, I'd like to go home."

"I'm sure they'll be out soon…" Luke said, although he wasn't sure.

Oliver flopped in the chair and hurrumphed, "So can we go? Send Seth back for them?" He asked. "Or maybe I should call Seth, have him bring me and Marissa home, you can wait for Ryan right?"

"Call Marissa and ask her if she wants to go home," Luke said, he wouldn't mind Seth taking Oliver home. The kid was slime. They had waited for him for hours! He was relieved when his phone buzzed with a call, interrupting their conversation.

"Hey, where are you guys?" Her voice sounded sleepy. "I just got a text from Marissa… The reception here sucka… I just got like six texts from Coop all at once. You're at the hospital? Is Coop okay? Is Oliver? I tried calling calling Marissa, but she's not answering." Summer's voice was raspy but high pitched at the same time, like she was nervous and still half- asleep.

"Yeah, Marissa's fine, Oliver seems okay too."

"So are you guys coming home?" He heard Summer yawning, and he suddenly felt a sudden strange desire to wrap her in a hug and brush her tousled hair out of her eyes, and kiss her good night.

"Uh, actually, I convinced Ryan to see a doctor…"

"Really? Good… I'm glad."

"Yeah, Marissa's in there with him now."

"Do you think I should tell Seth?" Of course, that was her first response. Seth. Well, Ryan was Seth's brother.

"Uh… Maybe we should wait until we know something?" Luke suggested, but it was too late, he could hear Summer yelling.

"Seth! Seth! Wake up!" There was a pounding then some muffled conversation. Luke heard Seth screech, "Ryan's in the hospital and nobody thought to tell me!" There was some more chatter and then Summer was back on the line, "We'll be right there."

"Looks like you got your wish," Luke told Oliver. "Everyone at the lodge is coming."

"To come and get me?"

"No, to make sure Ryan's okay." Luke couldn't help but turn away and smirk a little to himself.


	14. Chapter 14

"Ryan, how can you walk around on a broken leg on not tell anyone!" Marissa was yelling at him and staring in disbelief at the x-rays that had been posted on the wall. Ryan thought the fracture was so minor, you could hardly see it. Hard to believe that the one tiny little line that looked like a stray hair that had gotten in the way of the x-ray film, and was only about inches long, could really cause so much trouble.

"You seemed busy… And my leg can't really be broken." He said, not sure what else to tell Marissa. They had given him a shot of something for the pain, directly into his veins actually through the IV drip, and now the lines of the room seemed to have blurred slightly. He had to admit, this hospital thing didn't seem so bad now that he was here. He was in a nice bed that went up and down according to his demands and the pain had even lessened slightly thanks to whatever wonder drugs they had given him.

"Ryan Atwood?" A tall doctor with wire- rimmed glasses and a shaved head appear. "My name's Doctor Ramms, I'm the orthopedist on call tonight. We were just on the phone with your…" He consulted his sheet, "you guardians?"

"You called them?" God… Now they were going to be all worried about him. "Were they mad?"

"No Ryan, they're not mad." The doctor had a reassuring voice. "You were lucky, breaks like this can be very dangerous, but you're young and your bones are healthy. It doesn't look like you're going to need surgery."

"Well, that's good." Ryan was a little woozy, he glanced at the IV drip, what were they pumping into his system? The pain from his knee seemed so far away. Now that he was here at the hospital, he vaguely wondered what he had been avoiding.

"Yes, it's very good, Ryan." The doctor smiled. "Look, it's late and I'm sure you're exhausted. So we're gonna put your knee in a splint and send you on your way. You'll need to follow up with an orthopedist as soon as you get home, alright?"

"Sure," Ryan said. He'd agree to anything, now that they said he could go home.

"But look kid, I need you to remember, your leg is broken. I need you to be careful with it, okay? No walking, no weight bearing- nothing, got it?"

"Yeah, sure." Ryan nodded.

"Okay, I'll send in a nurse."

"I can't believe you didn't tell me your leg was broken..." Marissa muttered again.

"I really didn't think it was that bad," Ryan said, honestly. He had managed to ski on it and walk on it, it was only as the evening had gone on that the pain had started to become really unbearable, and it wasn't like he hadn't gone to a doctor, or at least tried.

"Are you in a lot of pain now?" She asked.

"No, the meds have really helped." He smiled tiredly.

"Do you think I should go out and tell Oliver and Luke that we can go home soon?" Marissa asked. She did feel a little guilty about abondoning Oliver. He wasn't in great shape either. She wondered how he had gotten so injured. Sure, her neck was a little sore but she had refused the neck brace, the pain wasn't unbearable. What she was really looking foward to was the hot tub back at the lodge. Of course, she had been thinking it would enjoyable with Ryan, but that was obviously not going to happen, but maybe Oliver would go in with her. Once Ryan went to bed of course, she wouldn't just abondon him for Oliver.

"Yeah, sure." Ryan said, he didn't want her to go, and leave him in the room all alone, but he didn't want to admit just how badly he needed her. She was too capable of causing him so - much pain. Even when she found out that his leg was broken, she left him to go and talk to Oliver. And Oliver wasn't even injured. "You know, Oliver's not even hurt." The words slipped out before he could stop them. His drug- addled brain seemed to have lost its common sense. He almost winced thinking about what he had just said, before Marissa even opened her mouth, he knew the response would not be favorable.

"Ryan, he was just in a car accident! Are you serious? I know you're hurt but that doesn't mean you're the only one! I can't believe you would even say that! Why would you even say that? All you did was fall on some snow and you broke your leg, imagine how much pain he's in! God Ryan, you can be such a jerk." And then before he could say another word, she turned and flounced out of the room. Ryan felt his heart sink as he watched her go. The pain in his knee suddenly increasing in intensity.


	15. Chapter 15

"Hey," Luke stood when Marissa appeared in the waiting room, she didn't look too upset, that was good. "Is Ryan okay?" She nodded, then shook her head. "I'm sorry, was that a yes or a no?"

"His... His leg...well his knee... is broken... But the doctor said he's going to be okay. They're gonna put a splint on it, and then we can go home. They gave him something for the pain so he's feeling a lot better." Marissa was still stunned by what Ryan had said about Oliver.

"I could use whatever they gave Ryan, I think my pain meds are wearing off," Oliver shifted and grimaced, and Marissa gave him a sympathetic look. Clearly he wasn't faking.

"His leg is broken? Geez... Did they call Sandy and Kirsten and tell them?" Luke asked, "I think we should call them."

"They already did. The hospital did I mean..."

"So, are they coming?" Luke asked, that seemed like something Sandy and Kirsten would do for one of their sons.

"I don't know…" Marissa said, getting defensive. How was she supposed to know anything? It wasn't like anyone told her anything and most of her friends seemed to be ignoring her. She was just trying to do what was right by everybody- take care of Oliver and Ryan, both of whom were badly injured, and Summer had been ignoring her text messages apparently. Why hadn't she even called her to ask if she was alright

"Well, Summer, Seth and Anna are all on their way here." Luke announced, . Why was Marissa acting like it was no big deal? Ryan had a broken leg- that worse than he had expected.

"Really?" Marissa shot a look at him.

"Yeah, Summer just got your texts. All at once apparently. She started freaking out and called me. When I told her Ryan was with the doctors she ran and told Seth and then all three of them decided to drive over here. I'm sure Seth will know what's going on with Sandy and Kirsten."

"Yeah," Marissa agreed, feeling better already. Her best friend hadn't been so hung up on her Seth- drama that she had forgotten about her. She also knew her parents hadn't been called. As much as she wished they would come to her rescue. She hadn't been treated so there was no reason for them to be called. Oliver's parents had been called, but she knew his parents were not on their way here. Apparently they had just started asking the doctors about the state of the car, not about their son's bill of health. No wonder Oliver looked so miserable. She looked again at the double doors. Ryan was with the doctors and nurses now, he didn't need her, and Oliver looked so forlorn. Ryan had people rushing to his rescue, Oliver had no one. She looked again at the double doors, then decided Ryan would understand, and went and sat down next to Oliver. She didn't see Luke sadly shaking his head at her.

*******************************************************************************************************************************

"Mom?" Seth couldn't believe it when his mother's name appeared on his caller ID as Anna drove them to the hospital, it was almost 4am. Did she have some kind of Mom super-power?

"Hey sweetie,"

"Uhmm… Hi… Did you hear about Ryan?" He really hoped this was about Ryan and not something else.

"Yes, we did. They called us from the hospital. We're going to be on the first flight up there."

"Mom, that's really not necessary," Seth figured Ryan would be embarrassed by that kind of attention.

"We want to fly him home. We figure a long drive would be kind of rough for him."

"Yeah, okay, I guess good that you're coming…"

"So glad you agree Seth," He heard his dad say in the background.

"See you guys soon,"

"We're headed to the airport now, and we'll call you when we know what time we're getting in."

"Great…" Seth said, and hang up. "Can't you drive faster?" He turned to Anna.

"Why? So I can hit a deer like Oliver?" Anna asked, but she obliged by accelerating slightly.

*Meanwhile in the OC*

After she hung up the phone with Seth, Kirsten and Sandy sat silently side by side, and Kirsten mentally went back through her rapidly compiled check list. She had hastily piled several pairs of Ryan's clean sweat pants into a duffle bag and then jumped in the car. She hadn't even packed anything for herself. She figured they'd grab a plane and then the kid, and then fly back as quickly as possible. She didn't trust those Northern Cali docs. She had already called the local ER and told them to get all Ryan's records from the other hospital where Ryan was being treated so they would be ready and waiting in the OC. She had also done a web search and found the doctor touted as the best in the OC, and had programmed his number into her phone so she could start calling at 8am that morning. Now, there was nothing else to do except go and get her son. Considering her son had just landed in the hospital with a broken leg, she actually felt a sort of calm. She could deal with this. She had a plan. Plans were good. Plans could get you through anything. Right there was one more thing she needed to do. Book a flight. That was the easiest part. She picked up her phone and dialed.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews! I'm getting some very strong reactions but I love it! Keep reading and I'll keep writing!

"Hey man, you look like hell," Ryan had been falling in and out of a drug- induced stupor that vaguely resembled sleep. The nurse had to pump him full of morphine in order to get the splint on him, he cried out in pain every time they had tried to move his leg even slightly even slightly. Now that it was in the thick splint it felt a lot better. For a moment he thought he was imagining hearing and seeing Seth standing there next to his bedside. How had he gotten there?

"Hey," Ryan managed a tired smiled, and tried to sit up.

"Why so much effort? You have a button right here to do that for you," Seth said, pressing the button on his bedside that obliged by lifting Ryan into a sitting position.

"What are you doing here?" Ryan asked, slightly confused. How long had Seth been standing there?

"What? Not glad to see me?"

"No I am… I'm just… Am I dreaming? Seth, are you in my head?"

Seth laughed, "Wow, what drugs do they have you on? That stuff must have a street name…" Ryan chuckled slightly, he was glad to have his step- brother there beside him, and he seemed real enough, or he was having one heck of a hallucination. "So your knee, huh?"

"Yeah," Ryan sighed. "When did you get here?"

"Not long ago, Summer apparently got a bunch of texts from Marissa about the car accident and she called Luke who told her that he had managed to somehow wrangle you into actually seeing a doctor who had already called Mom and Dad, and anyway we all decided to show up. Oh, by the way, Mom and Dad are headed up here,"

"What?" Ryan started, staring at Seth. "Why?" His brain was kind of slow to process but he was pretty sure Seth had just said Sandy and Kirsten were on their way- and apparently there was a crowd in the waiting room.

"They want to fly you home, they think the ride home in the car will be too painful for you." Ryan groaned and sank into the bed. He hated when the Cohen's fussed over him. "I told them you probably wouldn't appreciate the gesture, but they were practically on board a plane already."

"No, it's not that… I just, I don't need them to worry about me. They do enough for me as it is… they don't need to do this…"

"They know they didn't need to Ryan, they just want to."

"Hey Ryan, ready to go?" Ryan's doctor poked his head into their room.

"Yeah," Ryan nodded. He was tired, like really tired. He realized with a jolt that he hadn't really slept at all that night, and it was almost five am.

"Alright, well, I just wanted to give you these. It's pretty late, I figured you'd have trouble finding a pharmacy that was open, so I went ahead and filled a prescription for you." He handed Ryan a small amber bottle. "Just be careful, no more than two every four hours, and drink plenty of water with them, alright? Those are pretty strong, so no operating of any heavy machinery, got it?"

"Sure doc," Ryan reached out to take the pills gratefully, he had been dreading the pain that would come when they stopped pumping that magical serum into his arm. The doctor hesitated mid- reach and glanced at Seth.

"Can you give us a minute?" He asked.

"Okay…" Seth was reluctant, but he wasn't going to argue with the tall man in the white coat, and he shuffled to the door. The doctor waited until he heard it click shut to speak.

"Look Ryan, those are your friends out there in the waiting room, right?"

"Yeah, sorry so many of them showed up… I'll tell them to get out of here."

"No, they're not disturbing anybody and it's good to see young people be so… supportive. No Ryan, what I wanted to say to you…" He hesitated, "This conversation is strictly confidential, do you understand me? I could lose my job, but, I wouldn't feel comfortable…" Ryan began to fidget uncomfortably, wondering what the doctor was going to say. "Look, your friend who came in a few hours before you- the one who was in the car accident?"

"Oliver- yeah?"

"I'm not naming names, but when a patient arrives complaining of extreme pain but no exact location and no detectable injuries, it's just that, well, kids and adults really, who are looking for pain killers, often they will complain of extreme pain of indeterminate cause. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Ryan started to shake his head then stopped, looking closely at the doctor. prescription for pain, especially to someone under the age of 18. "

"You're saying I shouldn't tell Oliver you gave me this,"

"I'm saying keep a close eye on those pills, and maybe don't spread it around that you have them, alright? I don't want to not give you medicine you need because there's a chance that it could end up in the wrong hands, so I'm trusting you, alright?"

"Thanks," Ryan mumbled. Was this doctor really saying what he thought he was saying? Oliver was just looking for pain meds and wasn't actually injured? Then Seth was back, holding a pair of crutches.

"Come on buddy, let's get you out of here. Unless you wanna stay here until Mom and Dad arrive."

"Nah, let's go back to the lodge, I could use some sleep." Ryan said, getting up from the bed with Seth's help and getting a crutch under each arm. He didn't want to use the crutches anymore now than he wanted to earlier, but he really didn't want to make his leg worse. The prospect of surgery was a little too frightening.


	17. Chapter 17

"Where are they already?" Summer asked, getting up and pacing around the waiting room again. Luke just shook his head at her, he had been waiting here for hours already, what was a little longer? Not that he wasn't looking forward to going home and actually getting some sleep, his eyes were starting to burn he'd been awake for so damn long, and it had been a really night. He rolled his shoulders to try and release some of their tension. "You okay?" Summer asked him.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine."

"You look kind of tired,"

"It's been a long day." He admitted, and was surprised when Summer came and say down next to him.

"Yup," Summer agreed, and he noticed her glancing nervously at Marissa to notice if she reacted when she sat down next to him, but Marissa was having some kind of intense conversation with Oliver and seemed oblivious to the world around her. Anna, left behind by Seth when he had gone to find his step- brother, had wandered off to find coffee. "Do you need anything? Coffee? Food?"

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Luke couldn't help but ask.

Summer shrugged, "I dunno, you've kind of been taking care of Ryan. I never thought you could be so… Un- self centered."

"Gee thanks," Luke said, shaking his head. Well, maybe she was right, he could be a little focused on himself sometimes, but people had needed him today, and he had been there. Why was that so hard to believe? And he hadn't really done anything special. He and Summer had both taken Ryan to clinic and he and Ryan had both come to the hospital for Marissa and Oliver.

"Marissa told me you were the one who finally got Ryan to see a doctor… It's good that you were here for him. I doubt Marissa would have noticed anything wrong with him, I mean, I didn't even think he was that hurt."

"Yeah well," Luke didn't know what to say. How was it not obvious to everyone that Ryan had just been putting up a tough front? He hadn't wanted to be the one to call him out on it, but eventually he felt like he had no choice. Besides, Ryan should be grateful, he had been able to divert to Marissa's attention away from Oliver, even if it was only briefly. He felt a surge of frustration Ryan's behalf when he saw Marissa chatting away with Oliver.

He remembered all too well what it was like losing Marissa to another guy, but Ryan was a good guy who really liked Marissa, not a creep who faked injuries and made up stories about non- existent deer to cover his mistakes. He hadn't deserved Marissa, and that was why he had lost her. But Ryan? Ryan had done nothing to deserve Marissa's terrible treatment of him.

"You don't like Oliver much, do you?" Summer must have noticed the look on his face when he glanced over at Marissa and Oliver.

"I just think Marissa isn't where she should be right now," Luke growled.

"Why not? Oliver's hurt too, maybe just as badly as Ryan, and Ryan has Seth, Oliver doesn't really have anyone." Luke snorted but held his tongue, he didn't have proof that Oliver was faking. "You think he's faking, don't you?" Summer said.

"I didn't say that," Luke said defensively. He didn't want to start that battle with Summer.

"You didn't, but Ryan did apparently, I thought you might be on his side."

"If he's actually injured, then there's no sides to take." Luke told her. He couldn't believe Ryan had been stupid enough to say something like that, although the poor guy was probably pretty desperate at this point.

"You think he's faking." Summer repeated, "So really you are taking Ryan's side."

"Summer, stop trying to make drama! I'm not taking anybody's side!" Luke tried to make himself very clear. Summer looked hurt.

"I'm not trying to make drama…" She said softly, "I just meant… I dunno, I know everyone reacts differently to pain, but I dunno, Oliver just doesn't look like he's in pain at all."

"Yeah well," Luke shrugged, Oliver probably wasn't in pain, except in everyone else's neck, well maybe not Marissa's.

"I think he's kind of playing it up to get Marissa to feel sorry for him and pay attention to him. It's kind of selfish of him, I think Ryan's probably worse off."

"Yeah, probably." Luke said, shrugging, as if he didn't know the answer.

"Do you ever start a sentence without saying 'yeah'?"

"Yeah," Luke smirked, crossing his arms and sinking down into his chair, maybe he could just go to sleep right here. Maybe Summer would let him use her as a pillow, her jacket looked soft and comfy.

"It's snowing," Summer said.

"Mmm..." Luke's eyes were sliding shut, his body leaning in towards summer.

"Hey guys," Marissa came over, Luke struggled to sit upright, and Summer who had been leaning towards him, straightened.

"Hey Coop,"

"So, Oliver's in a lot of pain. I was thinking maybe some of us should go home. I mean, Ryan really doesn't need an entourage." As if it was at all about what Ryan wanted.

Luke shrugged, "Whatever, but Seth's in there with Ryan and I was going to wait, so who's gonna take him?" He asked, as if he wasn't deliberately putting up obstacles.

"Well, maybe I could take your car..." Marissa offered.

"It's snowing Coop, are you sure you want to drive?" Summer asked, glancing at the window again, then she glanced at Luke who was making a face, and hastily added, "And shouldn't you be here whenever Ryan comes out?"

"Yeah, but he's got you guys, and Oliver's been here for hours, and you know he's had kind of a rough day."

Luke groaned, "We've all had a rough day Marissa, but Ryan is your boyfriend and you need to be here for him. So fine, if Oliver wants to go home, I will take him, but you are staying here. Let's see if he still wants to go home..." Luke got up and strode over to Oliver."

"I'll go with them," Summer offered, doing a quick mental count in head, there wouldn't be enough room in the other car otherwise.

"Okay..." Marissa said, trailing slowly after them as they went to announce the arrangement to Oliver.

"Oliver, let's roll." Luke gestured, keys already in his hands, as if he were eager to get a move on this plan.

"Alright," Oliver made a great big show of getting to his feet, and Marissa rushed in to help him. "Thanks, I'm really stiff after sitting for so long." He managed to get to his feet and started to limp towards the door, then he noticed that Marissa wasn't coming and he stopped. "Aren't you coming he asked?"

"Well... You know... I thought it might be best if I waited here for Ryan..." She glanced at Summer and Luke.

"Oh..." Oliver glanced again at Summer and Luke, Luke jangled his keys impatiently. "You know, maybe you're right. Maybe we should all wait for Ryan..." And he turned and trudged back to his seat.

"Told you so..." Luke whispered to Summer, who only frowned at her best friend, who had gone back to fawning over Oliver.


	18. Chapter 18

Kirsten stood anxiously at the ticket desk at the airport, drumming her fingernails anxiously against the counter top. "What do you mean all the flights have been cancelled?" She stared at the ticket lady who looked back at her as if she was an idiot.

"I mean, all the flights have been grounded until further notice. There's a storm system moving in, and all the planes are grounded because it's not safe for them to fly."

"I don't think you understand, I need to get on a plane."

"Well, your welcome to go sit on the airplane, but it's not going to be going anywhere. At least not up north."

"Hey, there's no reason for that." Sandy cut in, "Our son was skiing and he broke his leg, we're just trying to get to him. Is there nothing we can do?"

"You could get in your car and start driving." The woman suggested.

Sandy and Kirsten glanced at one another, "Well we could…" Kirsten said.

"Yes, but wasn't the whole point of driving so that Ryan wouldn't have to an endure a long drive home?

"We could drive there, and then fly home."

"Honey, by the time we got there the kids will probably have driven home… Ryan could just buy his own plane ticket."

"And fly by himself?"

"He's a big boy, I'm sure he could handle it. The other guys could bring him to the airport, we'd pick him up, and he'd be taken care of by the airport, they'd give him a wheelchair and everything."

"Look, while you folks are deciding, there's a long line of passengers behind you, so could you step to the side please?" The woman behind the counter asked impatiently. Sandy and Kirsten begrudgingly stepped out of line.

"She was rude…" Kirsten said.

"Yes, and entirely unhelpful…"

"We could wait here a few hours… See if any of the planes start flying. Try to get on the first one out."

"Let's call Seth, have him ask Ryan what he wants to do."

***

"Are you guys here already?" Seth asked when he answered his parents' call.

"No, we've hit a snag. Apparently there's a big snow storm moving in up there, and they've grounded all the flights, so we can't get out there this morning. Can you put Ryan on? We want to ask him what he'd like us to do."

"He's pretty groggy, but you might get a coherent sentence out of him." Seth said, and handed the phone over to Ryan.

"Hello?" Ryan's voice sounded tired and hoarse.

"Hi honey, how are you feeling?" Kirsten asked gently.

"I'm fine," His auto- response, even they he knew they knew he was lying. He didn't want them to worry anymore, and he was worried if he admitted the truth it would just be a long string of complaints. It was his own fault for agreeing to go on this stupid ski trip, and now his leg was broken and his girlfriend had run straight into Oliver's arms.

"Alright well… Sandy and I are trying to fly out there to you, but all the flights have been cancelled. Would you like us to drive up there and pick you up? Drive up there and fly home with you? Would you like to just buy a ticket?"

"Why were the flights cancelled?" Ryan's brain could only compute so much information at a time.

"There's a big snow storm moving in," Seth answered.

"If there's a big storm… How could I get out of here?" Ryan asked, for a moment he had been thrilled by the prospect of escape from this horrible place.

"Maybe you could get a flight before the storm starts, or wait until after the storm…"

"I'm fine really, I'll just go in the car with everyone else. Don't worry about me."

"It's our job to worry, Ryan."

"We're leaving tomorrow… Well, today. I'll be home soon."

"Alright, but if it starts snowing really hard, don't drive. Okay?"

"We have to get back to school."

"We'll call them- tell them you're having a snow day." Sandy joked.


	19. Chapter 19

"Seth!" Anna jumped up excitedly when her boyfriend finally reappeared. She had been feeling lonely in the big empty waiting room. Oliver and Marissa were chatting away seemingly oblivious to the world around them, and Luke and Summer were snuggled together, both fast asleep. When she cried out, everyone else started anxiously. Summer pushed Luke away, and Luke, abruptly awoken almost fell out of his chair, Marissa looked up guiltily and Oliver looked like a child who's toy had just been taken away. Anna would have laughed at the spectacle, except she saw Seth's face, and poor Ryan was actually being pushed in a wheelchair by a nurse. Ryan looked humiliated, in pain and exhausted.

"Hey," Seth gave her a quick hug, he looked worried and tired.

"How are you feeling?" Anna asked, as everyone else dragged themselves to their feet, except Oliver, who just sat there pouting, and began to crowd around Ryan, who did not seemed pleased with the attention.

"Ready to go home," he told them hoarsely.

"I'll go bring the car around," Luke offered, and hurried off.

"I was going to-" Seth said, but Luke was already off and running. The nurse followed Luke, wheeling Ryan towards the front door.

"So, how's he doing?" Anna asked.

Seth shrugged, "He's Ryan, he's tough."

"Are your parents coming?" Summer asked.

Seth sighed and shook his head, "No, all the flights are cancelled. There's a storm moving in."

"Yeah, it's already started to snow." Summer said.

"Are you going to ride back with them?" Seth asked Marissa pointedly, motioning to the door. Luke had brought the car around, and there was a slight struggle to get Ryan into the car, he didn't want help, but his leg was completely immobilized and he was having trouble getting into the back seat of Luke's truck, even though he had reluctantly accepted Luke's health.

"Oh… I was going to go Oliver… I didn't think…"

Summer sighed, "Oh whatever. I'll go with them. I'll see you all back at the house. Maybe you guys could get some groceries, in case we really do get snowed in." And then she jogged to the door to assist with the Ryan effort, although she knew she probably wouldn't be much help.

"Are we going yet?" Oliver had managed to rouse himself and sauntered over to the group, now that Ryan, Luke and Summer coalition had left. For some reason, those three seemed against him, although he wasn't sure why. He should point that out to Marissa.

"Yeah," Seth said, "Let's go."


	20. Chapter 20

Ryan, Luke and Summer managed to get back before everyone else. Seth called to them that they were indeed going to make a supermarket run. It was 7am, and a supermarket that was on the way back from the hospital happened to be open. It took some effort to get Ryan safely into the house, and comfortably adjusted on the couch. Luke was exhausted, but he knew he'd be able to sleep as soon as Ryan was settled. Ryan was so far gone on pain, pain meds and sheer exhaustion that he didn't protest as Summer fussed over him and Luke practically carried him from the truck into the lodge. It would never be mentioned again.

Finally, Luke and Summer dropped exhausted onto the chairs next to Ryan, both too tired to even make it back to their own beds, and reluctant to leave Ryan alone until they were sure he was asleep. Ryan, even in his hazy state, could sense just how tired Luke and Summer were, and was reluctant to ask for anything, even though his knee was hurting badly after the jostling to get him into the house and he wanted to take more pain medication to try and calm it and get some sleep. But if he took the medication, he would need water. If he drank water he would need to pee, and if he needed to pee- well, there was just no way he was going to ask for Luke's help with that one. He also wanted to keep the pain meds concealed after what the doctor had said- the fewer people who even knew he had them, the better.

For lack of anything else to do, and uncomfortable in the silence, Luke flicked on the television. An old Bugs Bunny cartoon was playing, and for some reason, Luke felt compelled to leave it on. It was old, familiar, and kind of funny. He glanced over at Summer and noticed her starting to smile and giggle slightly when Elmer Fudd accidently blasted himself with his own gun. Even Ryan was hazily smiling at the TV.

By the time everyone else got home, they had all dissolved into outright, over- tired laughter at the cartoon antics. "Wow… Did someone release laughing gas in here or something?" Seth asked, as he observed Summer, who upside down on her chair and red in the face, and giggling hysterically.

"Oh my god Seth, this is the funniest thing I have seen!" She declared.

"I see that…" Seth raised his eyebrows at Anna who just shrugged. "Guys hungry? We got food."

"Nah, that's cool." Luke got to his feet, "I'm going to bed. Figure we'll hit the road after I've gotten some sleep."

"Yeah, me too…" Summer said, managing to get to her feet. She glanced backwards as she left the living room and when no one was looking, slipped into Luke's room.

"Summer!" He jumped in surprise when she caught him without his shirt on.

"Shhh…"

"What are you doing here?" He hissed.

"I'm just not in the mood to be alone right now," She said, taking off her sweater, and climbing into his bed.

"Yeah but… " Then he brightened, "So can we…?"

"No," And she turned over onto her side, and adjusted her pillow. Not sure what else to do, Luke climbed in next to her. She snuggled against him and he let his arm fall over her. Soon both were fast asleep.


	21. Chapter 21

As if he was greatly perturbed by the cartoon, the first thing Oliver did when he walked into the house was turn off the TV, even though Luke, Ryan and Summer were still watching. Ryan had actually been enjoying himself, even laughing a little himself, felt a sort of grayness settle over the room. Unlike Luke and Summer, who had quickly run off, this group seemed less concerned with his comfort. Seth, in a gesture clearly meant to be one of goodwill, sat down next Ryan on the couch, but even the slightly jostling of the couch sent ricochets of pain up his leg, and where as he had finally gotten comfortable on the couch, now the weight was re- distributed and the pillows under his knee had gotten disturbed. He hated to be so whiny about the whole thing, but well, his knee really freakin' hurt.

"Seth, can you not sit there?" He asked grumpily.

"What?" Seth looked like a puppy dog who had just been smacked.

"Sorry, but your weight…" Ryan trailed off, he knew how ridiculous it sounded.

"Yeah, whatever man." Seth said, looking hurt and resentful and moved over to share a chair with Anna.

"Don't be such a grump Ryan," Oliver said, falling into a chair with an "oomph." This coming from the guy who had turned off the cartoons.

"Can I get you anything Ryan?" Anna offered, but it seemed insincere. Seth's new position was lying against her, and Seth glared at Ryan, clearly daring him to say yes, and Anna didn't look like she was particularly motivated, she kept glancing at Marissa, as if to send brain waves saying "take care of your boyfriend!"

"No thanks," he muttered. He really just wanted to go to sleep, but now his knee was starting to really hurt and he knew it wasn't going to let him get any shut eye.

"I think I'm going to get some sleep," Marissa announced.

"Yeah me too," Oliver stood and yawned, he started to stretch with his bad arm, then caught himself. Only Ryan seemed to notice, and he just shook his head.

"Ryan, will you be okay if we go?" Seth asked, Anna's eyes were practically closed.

"Yeah, it's fine."

"Alright, see you buddy. Holler if you need anything…" Seth got up and nudged Anna awake, and then the two trundled off. As soon as they were gone, Ryan realized the remote was on another chair, where he couldn't reach it. He didn't want to holler for something as silly as that, and since he was uncomfortable anyway, he decided to get up.

It took him several minutes to struggle to his feet. Holding onto the couch, and balanced on one leg, he managed to hop to the other chair. He grabbed the remote and started to hop back to the couch when he took an over- zealous hop. The rug slid, and he lost his precarious balance, and he fell to floor. His leg exploded in pain. He hoped someone would have heard the crash and come running, but it seemed everyone was already sound asleep. He let a few tears slide down his cheeks, and after about five minutes of lying on the floor, perhaps longer, the pain subsided somewhat. Somehow he managed to pull himself back up onto the couch, slightly careless of his leg, he figured it couldn't hurt anymore than it already did. He lay on the couch, his knee flashing now flashing blinding white pain. He fumbled in his jacket, which he had never gotten off, and managed to find his pill bottle. Someone he managed to get the bottle open, sat up, popped too pills, and let himself fall back into the pile of pillows Summer had managed to gather.

Then he pulled out his phone and called Kirsten. "Kirsten?" He gasped when she answered.

"Ryan, sweetie? Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" He bit his lip to keep himself from breaking down completely into sobs. "I think I want to come home. I need to find a flight."

"Okay honey, I'm going to look some up for you okay? I'll call you back as soon as I find something."

"Thanks," he whispered, his mouth was dry.

"Are you alone?" She asked.

"No, everyone's around." That was sort of the truth.

"Alright, I'll call you right back, okay?"

"Okay," Ryan managed to hiccough back a sob.

"Hang in there okay?"

"Yeah," _I'm trying_- thought Ryan, clenching his jaw against another wave of pain. His phone rang again not five minutes later.

"Ryan?" Her voice told him instantly she did not have good news. "All the flights are still grounded, I'm sorry…"

"Yeah… it's okay…" Said Ryan, "We'll be leaving here soon, I'm sure." He voice was tight, and he felt a moment of despair as he caught a glimpse of the swirling whiteness outside his window.

"Alright, try and get some sleep, okay? I know you've had a long night."

"Yeah…" Ryan wished he had just stayed in the hospital, it would have been better than this. He hadn't told anyone that the doctor had offered, he knew Seth would tell Sandy and Kirsten and they would have forced him to stay, now he wished they had. He clicked on the television, a newscaster was announcing continued snow in the mountains, with rain down in the O.C. He let himself pretend for a moment that he was really in his pool house, he tried to conjure thoughts of rain on the roof, and his own comfortable bed. Finally the exhaustion and pain medication overtook him, and he fell into a restless sleep where he dreamt about something terrible, but somehow the thoughts refused to form a coherent message and he wasn't sure what exactly he was running from, except somehow it kept catching up to him and stabbing him in the leg. If anybody else had been awake, they probably would have heard him crying out in pain, even in his dreams.


	22. Chapter 22

Kirsten stared helplessly into the rain, worried about Ryan. He said he was fine, but he didn't sound fine. He sounded like a hurt, helpless little boy who really needed his mommy. Or Guardian. Whichever. And she was trapped. She had called every airline, every chartered airline and even a few helicopter companies. All of them had told her that there was a huge storm system settled over that area and there was no way, not for love or money, that they were flying up there. Why couldn't her dad have bought a corporate jet? She would have gotten into the cockpit and flown the damn thing at this point.

"Any luck?" Sandy came in, squeezed her arms and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"No… Maybe we should just drive,"

"Honey, you called the weather service, they said there's already six inches of snow up there, and we don't exactly have snow tires. Not to mention that you've never driven in the snow-" She glanced at him, "And I haven't in twenty years!" He added quickly. "Look, if I thought for a second that we could help Ryan by jumping in that car and driving up there, I'd be honking the horn at you from the driveway, but the fact is that right now, there's nothing we can do. But I talked to Seth, they went and got food and bottled water, and Ryan's hardly alone.

They'll be okay, alright? You talked to the doctor, they said Ryan's knee is going to be fine. This is probably good for him, he's just gonna lay in a bed, and relax. Rest is what he really needs, not an airplane flight or a car ride. Okay?"

"Yeah…" Kirsten nodded. "But I still wish there was something I could do…" Sandy hadn't heard Ryan on the phone, hadn't heard his pitiful pleas for help. He didn't know… She went back to staring at the rain.


	23. Chapter 23

When Ryan woke up, he looked around, something seemed wrong. The room seemed sorta dark, and cast in a strange yellow light. The couch seemed harder somehow than he remembered, and he could have sworn he had gone to sleep facing the other direction and had somehow gotten very turned around. Everything seemed very familiar but something wasn't right…

"Oh good, you're awake." A voice said, followed by a harsh sounding cough. He turned around, and found himself staring at his mother.

"Mom?" He asked, utterly confused.

"Hey kid, how are you feeling?"

"Uhmm…" How was he feeling? Well, his knee felt about the same, but how did he get here?

"When did I get… home?" He asked, hesitating over the word "home."

"Don't you remember? Sheesh, what drugs do they have you on? I picked you up at the hospital after your damned brother crashed that car he stole." Car crash? The one that happened what seemed like a lifetime ago?

"Don't I- Didn't I end up in jail?"

"Nah, you're just a kid, they decided the broken leg was punishment enough."

"But I… But you…" He stuttered. "What about Sandy?"

"Sandy? Who's Sandy?"

"He's the social services lawyer who…"

"You're brother's lawyer? His name's Bob or something."

"No… my lawyer…"

"You're lawyer? Why would you need a lawyer?"

"Because you left me… You left me here! All alone and just disappeared! And Sandy took me in… And Kirsten… And their son Seth…"

"Ryan, what are you talking about? You want some more of the pills they gave me at the hospital?"

"Mom! You left me! You left me here all by myself and then Sandy came and saved me… And then I met this girl Marissa and then I burnt down this house…" Tears of frustrating were starting to sting his eyes, and he pushed himself further upright, despite his knee's protests.

"Sounds like you were having quite the dream…" His mother patted him on the shoulder. "What mother would ever leave her son?"

"It wasn't a dream- I swear it was real!"

"Look, Ryan, it wasn't, okay? It was just a dream. You've been pretty out of it since we got you home. They said you must have bumped your head pretty good. Look, I gotta get to work, okay? But here's the phone. Theresa and her mom are around if you need anything. I'm sure Theresa will be stopping by later to check on you. Feel better, okay?" She gave him a quick peck on the forehead and he could smell the booze on her breath.

"Yeah… Okay…" Ryan decided to go back to sleep, and hope when he woke up that everything went back to the way it was supposed to be. Although, he wasn't sure which was better. At his mom's or trapped in the ski lodge with the evil Oliver…

His eyes were just starting to slide shut when a familiar voice called out to him. "Ryan?"

"Marissa?" He asked hopefully.

"Marissa? Who's Marissa?" Theresa had appeared in front of him, holding a foil- wrapped container.

"My uh… girlfriend? In Orange County…"

"Wow Ryan, your mom warned me you were out of it, but seriously? When did you ever even go to Orange County?"

"Well, I've been living there,"

Theresa started to laugh, "And I'm the Queen of California, come on Ryan." Still laughing she went into the kitchen. "I brought you some soup- are you hungry?"

"Not really…" His crutches were lying next to him on the couch, and he picked them up and struggled to his feet and followed her into the kitchen.

"Ryan! Go lie down!" Theresa said when she saw him following after her, and swatted him with a dish towel.

"Theresa… Something wrong, I don't belong here." He looked around at the familiar kitchen, but somehow he felt like a stranger. Everything was exactly how he remembered it, but how many months had it been?

"Ryan, you're just on a lot of pills, okay? Everything's fine, go lie down, and I'll bring you some soup."

"Theresa, I'm telling you! I don't belong here! I didn't break my leg in that car accident! I was skiing with Marissa and Oliver and Seth and Luke and Summer, and I fell or Oliver pushed me- I don't know which and then we went to the ER because Oliver and Marissa got into a car accident…"

"Isn't Marissa your girlfriend?" Theresa asked, humoring him.

"Yes!"

"So what was she doing in the car with another guy?"

"She… I dunno, she and this guy Oliver have all this stuff in common I guess, unlike me and her so she's been kind of spending a lot of time with him."

"Wow Ryan, sounds like you were having a pretty intense dream. You really should be lying down…"

"No! This is the dream! That was real! This isn't real!"

"Ryan, calm down, please?" Theresa asked him gently. "Just sit down… The soup will be ready in a minute okay? I'm sure your stomach being empty isn't helping."

"Yeah…" Ryan let himself be guided into a kitchen chair, and Theresa helped him lift his broken leg onto a chair with a slight gasp of pain. Once settled, he let his head fall onto the table, and instantly he was asleep.

*****

"Theresa?" Ryan woke with a start and looked around. He was back in the lodge. It had been a dream, but it had felt so real… He felt a moment of sadness when he realized his mother really had left him and Theresa wasn't here with him. God, he wanted to go home, wherever home might be.

A/N: Sorry for this kind of side- bar chapter, this idea came to me and I just couldn't resist!


	24. Chapter 24

"Hey," A tousled- looking Luke appeared in the living room.

"Hey," Ryan was awake and blankly staring at an infomercial, Luke thought he looked like shit.

"You look like shit man,"

Ryan managed a small smile, "Thanks,"

"Welcome. Do you need anything?"

"Nah, I'm fine."

"Get any sleep?"

"Not really,"

"Wanna borrow my bed? I'm sure it's better than the couch." Luke decided not to mention that Summer was currently _in _his bed, but she could be moved if necessary.

"No thanks," Ryan didn't want to admit how much he was afraid a move like that would hurt.

"I figure we should wake everyone up soon, get this show on the road." Luke glanced out the window, and suddenly seemed to notice the blizzard whirling outside. "Has it been like that all night?"

"Yeah, newscaster said it's supposed to go for another day or two."

"Two?" Luke thought he might kill himself if he was really trapped here with Oliver for that much longer, and quite frankly, Ryan looked like he might actually keel over and die. "I was gonna make some breakfast, you hungry?" Luke was starving and couldn't remember the last time he had actually eaten anything.

"You can cook?" Ryan asked.

"Pancakes, sorta, I guess. I make them for my little brothers sometimes." For a moment Ryan's mind flashed to his memory of his older brother- who had never made him pancakes. He wondered what would have happened if he'd ever broken his leg like this back in his old life. He was pretty sure he'd be in a similar situation as this one, stranded and in pain on a couch but no one would be offering to make him pancakes. He felt another pang as he wished Kirsten were there with him, not that he knew what she would even be able to do for him, but he was sure she would somehow make him feel better.

"Hey guys," Marissa appeared in the living room, she bent down and gave Ryan a peck on the forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Not great," Ryan told her, he wanted her to feel a little guilty for the way she had been ignoring him.

"Can I get you anything? Water? Tylenol?" Ryan almost started to laugh, like Tylenol would do anything for the pain. The pills the doctor had given him barely did anything, and Marissa was offering him Tylenol.

Luckily, once again, Luke came to his rescue, "What are you retarded? He doesn't have a headache- he has a broken leg. What do you really think Tylenol will do?"

"Oliver said Tylenol helped him, so I thought…"

Luke snorted, "Whatever Marissa, I'm going to make pancakes."

"What's his problem," Marissa asked, sliding down on the couch, and cuddling up to Ryan, who tried not to gasp as she bumped against him.

"Could you not do that?" He asked.

"Fine," She got up and sat down on a chair, and glared at him, "You're not much fun when you're hurt."

"You mean unlike Oliver?"

"Well, yeah- he's hurt and he's not acting like everyone is out to get him, and pushing away the people who care about him."

"No, he's definitely not pushing you away, I can see that." Ryan seethed.

"Ryan, he's hurt just like you, but unlike you, he's not trying to get rid of me."

"I'm not trying to get rid of you, it just hurts when you jostle me like that." Ryan said, trying not to sound like he was whining. "Sorry I'm not a more enjoyable companion right now,"

"Well you could try not acting like the world's coming to end, that would be a start. It's hard to be around you when you're just lying there complaining every time someone so much as breathes on you. I think you really hurt Seth's feelings last night." Ryan didn't bother pointing out that he felt like he had done very little complaining considering the circumstances, what did Marissa want from him?

"I'm sorry, I'll try to forget my knee is broken and be better company," He told her sarcastically.

She missed the tone entirely and smiled, "Good!" Ryan sighed, but apparently Marissa felt like use she had punished him enough, because her next statement was surprisingly gentle. "Does it hurt a lot?"

"You know how when you hit your knee like against a table or something?"

She nodded sympathetically, "Yeah, it feels like that? That's always really painful."

"No, it feels like someone is repeatedly taking a sledgehammer to my leg."

"Oh… So I guess Tylenol really wouldn't do much…"

"No," Ryan said, glad she was finally starting to get it. And then right on cue, as if he had known he would find them together, Oliver appeared.

"Good morning everyone!" He announced, grinning broadly, "How's it going Ry?" And gave him a good strong pat on the back.

"Morning, Oliver…" Ryan said, between clenched teeth, ignoring the look Marissa gave him.


	25. Chapter 25

"Hey guys, breakfast's ready!" Luke cheerfully called out. "Don't get up Ryan, I'll bring you a plate!"

"Hey Luke, can you bring Oliver a plate too?" Marissa called out.

"Huh? Oliver?" Luke appeared, holding a plate stacked with pancakes. "Oh… right… Morning Oliver," he muttered. "You want pancakes?" Luke looked at him expectantly. Luke and Oliver both knew Oliver wasn't hurt and didn't need to be served like an invalid.

"Yeah, and could you bring them in here? My neck is killing me this morning." He was settled in a big armchair and didn't look like he was experiencing the least bit of discomfort. "How are you feeling Marissa? It's really a miracle you didn't get hurt."

"I'm a little sore, but not bad." Marissa shrugged. If Ryan could have moved he would have kicked himself for not having thought to ask her, but until he saw Oliver in his neck brace and sling he had almost forgotten entirely about the car accident.

"More like a miracle you didn't kill her…" Luke muttered as he handed Ryan his plate of pancakes. Oliver glared at them, but Marissa apparently didn't hear.

"Thanks…" Ryan muttered, he didn't feel much like eating but he knew it had been awhile since he had put anything in his stomach.

"Uh… Marissa, can you help me in the kitchen?" Luke asked.

"Sure…" She glanced at Ryan and Oliver, as if they had some idea what was going on, but followed him off obediently.

Once in the kitchen, Luke lowered his voice and whispered, "I can't take it anymore."

"Take what?"

"You! And Oliver!"

"What?"

"Oliver's completely faking it, he's really not even hurt. And you're completely ignoring Ryan, who is really hurt."

"I'm not ignoring Ryan! Ryan just wants to be left alone!"

"No he doesn't, and he should be!" Luke said, glancing nervously towards the living room. For some reason, he felt nervous about leaving Ryan alone with Oliver.

"Oliver said you and Summer were ganging up against him, and taking Ryan's side. Why? What did Oliver ever do to you?"

"God Marissa…Does Oliver have you drugged or something? I mean, you cannot seriously be this retarded."

"I'm not just going to stand here and let you insult me!" Marissa's voice was raised. "Don't call me retarded!"

"Is there a problem here?" Oliver appeared, smiling that obnoxious smug smile of his.

"No." Luke said, just as Marissa said, "Yes." Luke glared at her, then slapped some pancakes on a plate and shoved them at Oliver.

"Here, as long as you're up. Obviously it wasn't too much effort…" He muttered, before making himself a plate and storming back into the living room. Ryan had taken about two bites of his breakfast, and then given up. The plate was sitting on the coffee table. "Not hungry?"

"Not really… What were you yelling about?"

"Nothing…" Luke muttered, digging into his pancakes.

"Hey, are there pancakes for breakfast?" Seth wandered into the living room. "How you doing Ryan? You look like shit…"

"So I've been told…" Ryan said.

"Snow's really piling up out there…" Seth said, looking out the window. "Guess we're not leaving today… Hey, maybe we could build a snowman!" He glanced at Ryan, "You could stand out there on your crutches, right?"

"I'll stay in here, thanks." Ryan said, sighing. Once again, it looked like he was going to be left alone. This broken leg thing was really starting to suck.


	26. Chapter 26

Ryan watched with a bemused smirk as Seth danced around the door, getting ready to go and play outside. There were only a few hours of daylight left, but it had only just stopped snowing. It had already been agreed that they were leaving first thing in the morning, but in the meantime, how many chances would they get to actually build a snowman? Ryan was jealous watching everyone get ready to go out, but he just didn't have the energy required and standing outside in the freezing cold while trying to stay balanced on crutches, just didn't seem like it would be that much fun. As if to try and prove he really was injured, Oliver had also announced that he was staying indoors, and Marissa had announced the same. Ryan wondered what her decision might have been if Oliver had announced he was going outside with everyone else.

He wished he could have a moment alone with her, there was something he really needed to tell her, but so far no such luck. As soon as everyone else was up and out the door, Marissa had jumped up and offered to make hot chocolate for all of them, and like a lost puppy Oliver had gotten up and followed her into the kitchen. Ryan wanted to follow, but getting up was just far too much work. Seth had been nice enough to bring his crutches to within range of the couch, but getting to his feet was a constant struggle. He had managed only twice, both times to go to the bathroom, and both had been horrifying experiences.

He glanced at the clock on his cellphone and with a sigh of relief realized he could take another painkiller. Then he remembered he had finally gotten around to taking off his coat and his pills were still in the pocket. With a sigh, he set about trying to get up. First he had to swing around so he was facing forward, then slowly push himself upright, holding the back of the chair, and then he had to get his crutches positioned so he could lift himself onto them. He finally almost made it to his feet when Oliver wandered back into the room, and settled himself down into a chair.

"Hey Ry, where are you running off to?" He grinned, making no effort to offer Ryan a hand as Ryan struggled to get his balance.

"Ah, was just going to take some pain stuff…" Ryan was breathing hard with the effort, and a light sweat had broken out on his brow.

"Well hey dude, I could help you out if you just asked."

"Ah, huh?" Had Oliver just offered to help him out?

"Sure, just stay here and I'll go get whatever you need."

"Okay," Ryan said, he had finally gotten up, but lying back down didn't seem so bad. "I was just going to get the bottle in my jacket pocket. It's in my room."

"Cool," Oliver grinned, and suddenly Ryan remembered the Doctor's warning. "Ryan, be careful, you look a little off balance… Watch out!" He suddenly cried out.

"What?" Ryan barely had time to process, when suddenly Oliver pushed him over. Ryan fell hard, and hit the ground with a thud, barely able to process whatever had just happened. Why had Oliver told him to look out, if he was just going to push him? He heard the thudding of Marissa's footsteps, and Oliver's voice above him.

"I told him to look out, he wasn't looking where he was going, I tried to catch him… But, I just couldn't with my shoulder…"

"Ryan?" Marissa was bending over him, "Ryan? Are you okay?"

Ryan groaned, "He pushed me… That jerk just pushed me…" He managed to roll onto his back, and was staring up at the ceiling. He could feel the tears running down his face.

"Ryan, what are you talking about? I heard him telling you to watch out- why would he do that if he pushed you?"

"So you would think… So you would think…" _So you would think he didn't do it…_ Oliver was holding his shoulder theatrically.

"I tried to catch him, not push him. I think I almost dislocated my shoulder doing it… And he tells you I pushed him… What a jerk…" Oliver limped dramatically back into a chair and sank into it pouting. Ryan wanted to scream.

"Well, are you okay?" Marissa asked, at first Ryan thought she was speaking to Oliver with that annoyed tone, then he realized it was directed at him. Of course, right now the last thing he wanted to do was admit that he wasn't okay and just how not- okay he might really be.

"He's lying!" Ryan suddenly found himself screaming, "He's lying! He didn't try to catch me! He wasn't injured to begin with and he definitely didn't injure himself trying to catch me because he pushed me. He pushed me down the mountain too!"

"Ryan… Calm down…" Marissa chastised him.

"No! I won't calm down! I'm on the goddamn floor because he pushed me! And you- you don't even… You don't even see it."

Just then, the door opened, and let in a blast of cold air. "Hey guys," A rosy- cheeked Luke appeared. "Just needed to get…" He looked around, there was no sign of Ryan from what he could see, except Marissa was kneeling by the floor next to…

Luke crept around to get a better look, and saw Ryan lying on the floor, the tears streaked across his face. He crouched down, "Hey, what happened?"

"Oliver pushed me," Ryan told him.

"No he didn't!" Marissa growled at him.

Luke ignored her, "Do you want to try and get off the floor?"

"Why bother? At least this way I can't fall…"

"Come on dude," Luke said, helping him sit up and then helped him to get into a standing position. Ryan managed to stay balanced on one leg while Luke picked up his crutches.

"I'm going to go to bed…" Ryan sighed. He really hadn't slept the night before, his leg felt like it had been lit on fire and he was just too tired to spend any more time dealing with Marissa and Oliver and all that other BS. Slowly he hobbled out of the room. Nobody said anything.

"I can't believe he accused Oliver of pushing him!" Marissa hissed, as soon as Ryan was out of ear shot.

"I know… what did I ever do to that guy?"

Luke sighed, "You two suck, you know that?" He sighed and shook his head. "Marissa, you have done nothing to help Ryan at all! You're too busy hovering around Oliver and his so – called injuries. You know Oliver, I believe Ryan, I really think you did push him!" Luke said, then stormed off back outside into the snow. He couldn't stand the sight of Oliver and Marissa even a moment longer.


	27. Chapter 27

"Hey," Seth came into Ryan's room and whispered. "You awake?"

"Of course I'm awake…" Ryan grunted, Luke had only left about five minutes ago.

"I'm here to help you pack…"

"Cool," Ryan said, too tired and worn out to really care.

"Look, I'm sorry… I realize I should have been… I dunno, a better brother or something."

"It's okay man,"

"Summer and Luke are going home with you. We did the math, that way you can have the whole backseat to yourself. And I called Mom and Dad, told them you'd be home soon. They just about jumped into the car and started driving to meet you halfway." Seth smiled slightly. "Anyway, I'm sorry… So, do you need help?"

"Yeah," Ryan admitted he did, his clothes weren't exactly strewn about the room, but he hadn't had a chance to really put anything in order after he had come off the mountain that day with the broken leg. How long ago had that been? It seemed almost instantaneous and at the same time like a long slow- progression of never ending pain and disappointment.

"Alright…" Seth started pulling the clothes back into the duffle bag, not bothering with any sort of organization. His mom would be unpacking it all anyway, and she could take care of it. He just didn't want Ryan ending up with Marissa's bra in his stuff or something like that. That would lead to questions, both of Ryan and himself. The Seth paused, "Did Oliver really push you?"

"Huh?"

"Luke said you said that Oliver pushed you,"

"He said, she said…" Ryan mused to himself, he had just taken another dose, double dose, of painkillers and was feeling a little woozy, and he wasn't sure if he knee was attached to his thigh anymore, but that was okay with him.

"Well?" Seth asked.

"Well what?"

"Did he what?"

"Push you,"

"Who did?"

"Oliver,"

"I hate that guy,"

"Yeah, me too. He sucks, but did he push you?"

"Yeah, on the mountain… He pushed me over…" Ryan said, "And in the living room. Man, I hate that guy. I'm going to kick his ass."

"No, you're not going to kick his ass," But it was too late- the pain- free Ryan was already up on his crutches and hobbling out of the room. Seth tried to stop him, but Ryan just sort of pushed past him, and Seth was afraid to put up much resistance and risk hurting Ryan.

"Oliver, c'mere! We're gonna fight, you an' me!"

"You've got to be kidding me," Summer rolled her eyes at Ryan, who was clearly in no condition to be fighting anyone. "Aren't you going to stop him?" She asked Seth.

"Hey, those crutches are lethal, man!"

Oliver got to his feet, smiling, "You want to fight?"

"No, he does not want to fight." Seth stepped in front of him, Oliver looked slightly maniacal and like he really was willing to fight. Well of course he was- an angry kitten could probably have taken down Ryan. "And everyone here knows that if Ryan were in any condition to actually kick your ass, you'd be running screaming in the opposite direction."

"What's going on?" Luke came out of his room, looking slightly calmer, but his shackles were instantly raised when he saw Oliver and Ryan glaring at one another.

"They're going to fight! Stop them Luke!" Marissa cried pathetically.

"Well maybe if you don't keep throwing yourself between them, this wouldn't be happening!" Luke growled at her. "Oliver, get out of here, alright? When you get back, we'll be gone, okay?"

"Are you kicking me out of my house?"

"No, but I'm telling you if you lay a hand on Ryan, I'll kick your ass."

"Yeah! Me too!" Seth stepped up, feeling brave and confidant that this would not be coming to blows.

"Don't you dare Luke!" Marissa shrieked.

"Then tell your 'friend' here to stay the hell away from Ryan!" He bellowed.

"Maybe we should take a walk or something…" Marissa suggested.

"Oh Marissa, I've been meaning to tell you. We're over." Ryan had been overwhelmed for a moment by the commotion, but then he remembered what he'd been meaning to tell Marissa.

"What?"

"I'm dumping you- well, really you've pretty much dumped me, but I'm just making it official. So go on, have fun with this jerk. And don't come crying to me when you realize what an asshole he really is. Because he's faking, trust me."

"Ryan, why don't you go wait in the car…" Luke suggested, "Seth will finish packing." Oliver clearly wasn't leaving. "Summer, hurry up with the packing."

"Whatever," Now that he had said his piece, Ryan felt deflated, and he was exhausted. So he followed Luke limply out to the car and climbed into the back. Luke started the engine to heat up the truck's cab. Seth had followed them out with some pillows he had in the Cohen car and helped Ryan get settled comfortably.

"We'll be home tomorrow, hang in there, okay?" Seth said.

"Yeah, thanks." Seth wished there was more he could say, but he wasn't sure what, so he climbed down and watched Luke toss suitcases into the back. "Thanks… For everything…" He said.

"No problem, see you back in the OC."


	28. Chapter 28

They drove through night, stopping only twice for gas and caffeinated drinks. Summer promised she would stay awake and make sure Luke stayed awake. Ryan had fallen asleep before they had left the driveway. He woke up only once and took another pain pill, and promptly went back to sleep. The only sign of life were the slightly grunts of pain whenever the truck hit a bump.

"Well… That was fun…" Summer said, as the signs of snow began to recede. Luke glanced at her, "I'm kidding…"

"Heh, yeah."

"Trip from hell,"

"Yup," Luke was exhausted and hardly in the mood to chat, but talking would keep him awake. "So, you and me?"

"Yeah?" Summer asked cautiously.

"Never happened, right?"

"Right," Summer gave a sigh of relief. "But you know, you were awesome. Taking care of Ryan- I mean!" She explained quickly.

"Thanks," Luke said, and shrugged. "I know Ryan would have done the same for me."

*****

"Oh the kids are here, thank God!" Kirsten had been glued to the window for most of the night, even though she knew they wouldn't get there for hours. She felt such a wave of relief as the big black truck pulled into her driveway. She was downstairs before the car was even put into park, Sandy hot on her heals.

"Hey Kirsten," A tired- looking Luke climbed down from the truck.

"Morning," Summer jumped down as well. Sandy and Kirsten exchanged a look- why hadn't Seth taken Ryan home? But they didn't have time to start asking questions. Luke was helping Ryan down from the truck, and Sandy rushed to his side to help.

"Hey kid," He tried to smile, but it was hard, the kid looked like he had been through hell.

"Hey Sandy,"

"Oh my God!" Kirsten was there now, taking in the size of the leg brace and Ryan's pale face. "Sandy, get him in the car- we're going to HOAG!"

Ryan shook his head, "Kirsten, let me get some sleep, then we go, okay?"

"Alright…" Luke picked up the bag and the four of them formed a procession out to the lake house. Kirsten was going to suggest Ryan stay in the guest bedroom, but they stairs would probably be harder on Ryan. Once in the pool house, Ryan instantly sank on the bed, and Kirsten instantly fell on him.

"Let's give them a moment…" Sandy said, ushering Luke out of the door.

"See you around Ryan," Luke yelled.

"Bye Luke," Ryan replied, then fell back against the soft pillows.

"How are you feeling?" Kirsten asked him, brushing his sweaty bangs out of his face.

"Tired…" He admitted.

"How does your knee feel?"

"Not good,"

"Want me to make an orthopedist appointment? Or do you wanna go to the ER?"

"I already went to the ER," Ryan said.

"I know sweetie, but it could be weeks before we can an appointment with an orthopedist, and I really don't think we should wait that long." Ryan didn't say anything, just sort of nodded, already falling asleep. "I'm calling an ambulance,"

"What?" Ryan's eyes flew open.

"I've seen how much it hurts you to move, I think we're better off leaving it the professionals."

"But Kirsten…" Ryan protested, "I'm fine. I just need rest."

"No but's Ryan…" She said, and started dialing. "Yes hi, I need an ambulance. My son broke his leg skiing and he just got home, but he's in a lot of pain and I don't think we can move him." As soon as she got off the phone, she kissed Ryan on the forehead. "I'm going to tell Sandy, and then I'll be right back."

"Okay…" Ryan was too tired to fight anything anymore.


	29. Chapter 29

"Hey sweetie, wake up." Kirsten had been sitting next to him, her arm draped over his shoulders, his head settled on her.

"What?" He slowly opened his eyes, Sandy was standing over him, with two guys he didn't recognize.

"Hey Ryan, I'm Duke and this is Monty, we're going to be taking you on a little ride okay?"

"Huh?" He blinked, confused. Then he remembered, oh right… The ambulance…

"We just need to do a couple tests first, okay?" Kirsten obligingly got out of their way as they went to work.

"Temp's a little low…" Said the guy sticking something in his ear.

"Pulse is a little high…" Said the guy wrapping the painful cuff around his arm.

"How's the leg?"

"Let's get the splint off…"

"It's soaked in sweat…"

"Severe swelling, slight abnormality in appearance…"

"Alright, let's take it off and immobilize- that thing is probably itching like crazy, right dude?"

"Huh?" Ryan stared at him uncomprehending.

The guy felt his arm, "Kid's dehydrated, let's get an IV bag in him."

"Dehydration?" Kirsten asked alarm.

"Didn't want to have to go pee…" Ryan explained tiredly, his eyes sliding shut.

"Alright kid, try and stay with us…" He felt them putting something on his leg, and then felt himself being gently lifted.

"I'm just going to take a little nap…"

"Come on, Ryan, stay awake man, okay?" But the darkness was calling, and he let himself give in.


	30. Chapter 30

"Ryan? Ryan can you hear me?" A voice was saying. Slowly Ryan opened his eyes and the world above him, full of bright lights came into view.

"What? Who are you? Where's Kirsten?"

"Thatta boy, gave your mom a bit of a scare when you wouldn't wake up," The man dressed in green said, he was holding a light over Ryan's eyes.

"Can you tell her I'm okay?" Ryan asked, following the light being flashed over his face with his eyes.

"Of course," The man dressed in green smiled down at him, but Ryan was too tired to smile back.

"So young man, what happened?"

"I dunno... I remember some guys showing up at my house, I guess they were EMT's... And then the next thing I knew, I was here..." Ryan mumbled, his eyes already sliding shut, his body craving sleep.

"I'm sorry young man, but I can't allow you to do that." The doctor told him gently, "And I was asking how you hurt your knee,"

"Oh right... I was skiing, and I fell. It hit the ice pretty hard."

"If you had to rate the pain, on a scale of one to ten? One being a twinge ten being the worst pain you've ever felt in your life..."

"I've taken some stuff, but it's been really bad..."

"What did you take?"

"I dunno, the doctor gave me some, I think it was called Vicodin,"

"Well, that explains the drowsiness... Judging from the x-rays the other hospital sent us, it looks like you probably twisted it slightly on your way down, and then when it hit the ground in that twisted position it fractured. I want to do another round of pictures, because I'm seeing deformation that isn't in the early e-rays and then we're gonna do an MRI, okay? Just to make sure there's no ligament damage." Ryan sighed, and wanted to cry, his knee hurt, he was exhausted and he just wanted to go home.

"Can Kirsten come?" He pleaded, struggling to push himself upright on his elbows. He noticed there was an IV line in his arm.

"I'll send her in to say hi, but then we need to get moving." Ryan nodded and lay back down.

"No sleeping now, okay?" The doctor warned.

"Right," Ryan promised, struggling to keep his eye open.

"Hi Sweetie," Kirsten's soft voice was by his side moments later, her hand gently brushing his forhead.

"Hi," He said tiredly.

"How are you feeling?"

"Tired and my knee hurts,"

"I know, I'm sorry... Do you want something for the pain?" Ryan shook his head,

"It'll just put me to sleep."

"I was worried about you, when they couldn't wake you up in the ambulance,"

"I'm sorry, I was just really tired."

"Don't be sorry, I'm just glad you're okay. The doctor said it was probably just exhaustion, pain and dehydration. Once we get you home, you can get plenty of rest."

"Couldn't get to a bed at the lodge... Couch was really uncomfortable but it hurt to much to move..." An orderly appeared.

"I'm sorry Ms Cohen, but I need to taken Ryan now."

"I'll see you as soon as your done," Kirsten gave him a kiss on the forehead and then Ryan felt the wheels underneath him start moving as the bed he was lying on was brought to the xray lab.

Left alone, Kirsten immediatly dialed Seth. "Hi Mom, how's Ryan?" He asked when he answered the phone.

"I had to take him back to the hospital," Kirsten told him, her voice was flat.

"Oh..."

"Seth, how could you not have told me how bad it was?"

"Mom, he seemed fine, really!"

"How can you say that? Seth, were you paying any attention to him at all?" Kirsten was very annoyed, at Seth, at the world. Okay, maybe Seth didn't know but if Ryan had looked even half as bad when he was at the lodge, Seth should have known something was wrong! And he was dehydrated and he had admitted how little he had slept, in part because he hadn't been able to get to a bed. He hadn't had anything to drink because he had been afraid of having to go pee.

"I was Mom! But he kept insisting he was fine!" Seth argued. Kirsten could hear the guilt in his voice.

"We'll talk about this when you get home. Are you leaving tonight?"

"Uh... We were gonna stay another day..."

"What?"

"Well, it's been kind of a rough trip so we were thinking one more day of skiing maybe..."

"Seth Cohen, you get in that car and you start driving. Ryan is in the hospital! You need to be here..."

"Right, got it Mom..." Seth said, sounding like a pouty child. Kirsten clicked her phone off angrily. It was good that Seth had a brother- maybe he would learn what it meant to think about someone besides himself.

"Hey guys," Seth slid his phone back into his pocket. "That was mom, I gotta go home."

"What? Why?" Oliver groaned. "I was just feeling better and I wanted to actually go skiing!"

"Well, Ryan's in the hopsital and my mom thinks I need to be there..."

"He's in the hospital, why?" Marissa asked, looking up anxiously.

"Oh, I don't know- maybe because he has a broken leg?" Seth suggested, he had just suffered through the guilt, now it was time to pass it around.

Oliver sighed, "He already went to the hospital, your mom is just overreacting."

"Well, if his mom wants him to come home, then he needs to go." Anna came to his rescue.

"Right, I need to go..." Seth dejectedly wandered back to his bedroom and started packing.


	31. Chapter 31

"Well, how is he?" Kirsten pounced on the doctor as soon as he came back to the waiting room.

"He's doing okay, it doesn't look like he'll need surgery. We're going to make sure the bone is properly set and gave him a brace to help it stay in place, but it should heal fine on its own. He's going to be feeling some discomfort in the weeks ahead, so we'll give you some medication to keep him comfortable and in a few weeks, we'll be able to start physical therapy. Aside from the tibial plateau fractures, there's also a partial tear of the MCL, but that should heal just fine on its own."

"Thank you Doctor," Kirsten felt her knees going weak with gratitude. "Wait, fractures?"

"Yes, there are several fractures that appeared on the MRI, however as there's minimal bone displacement, they should heal. He's lucky, the injury could have been much worse."

"I don't know how can call a 16- year old with a broken knee 'lucky' but I appreciate the sentiment." Kirsten muttered.

The doctor ignored the comment, "Would you like to see him? We're just about to brace on, I think he would appreciate your being there."

"Of course," Kirsten followed the doctor into the back, and found Ryan in a private room. He looked so pale, lying against the white sheets, and there were dark circles under his eye. A nurse stood nearby holding what Kirsten guessed was probably the knee brace, but looked like some sort of medieval torture device.

"They gave me something for the pain," He smiled vaguely when he saw Kirsten.

"Morphine," A nurse whispered to her.

"Can we go home?" He pleaded.

"Soon baby," She went over and gently stroked his blonde hair, noticing that it was rather oily. She realized it had probably been awhile since he had a shower. Just how were they going to accomplish that one?

"Alright Ryan, your knee is very swollen, it's called an edema, and in order to get this brace on you properly, we're going to need to drain some of the swelling." Ryan nodded, not sure he liked the sound of that, sure enough the doctor produced a rather large needle. "This is just some localized anesthetic, it will make sure you don't feel any pain while we're draining it." Ryan nodded and buried his face against Kirsten, and gripped her hand tightly as the needle plunged into his knee with a white burning heat, and then his leg seemed to go to sleep.

"Don't look Ryan," Kirsten whispered, as the biggest needle she had ever seen hovered above Ryan's leg and then was plunged downward. She watched, sickened and yet fascinated, as the needle quickly filled with Ryan's blood. After a few moments, they pulled it out, and quickly put a piece of guaze over the pin- prick hole. She looked at his knee, it did look much less swollen.

" Are you ready Ryan?" The doctor asked, watch us okay? We'll show you how to take this on and off, but that doesn't mean I want you taking it off alright? Except to take a shower, this needs to stay on, okay?"

"Alright…" Ryan sighed, and then gasped slightly as several orderlies raised his leg, trying to keep his knee stabilized and put the brace under him and then the nurse carefully showed Ryan how to fasten the complex series of Velcro fasteners.

"How does that feel?" She asked when he was done.

"Heavy," He said, testing the leg.

"You'll get used to it, and when you start healing, we can let you start moving around a little by changing this," She showed him the dials on the side, marked out with angles, "But for right now, we want it to stay completely straight."

"Alright Ryan, you're all set. We're going to schedule a follow- up for a week from today. No walking or any weight bearing, I don't think you're going to want to, but just don't get any ideas. Okay?"

"Sure," Ryan nodded, he would have promised to just about anything to escape from the hospital.

"Alrighty then, let's get in a wheel chair and then we can get you on your way. Do you have crutches?"

"They're out the house,"

"Well, make sure someone meets you in the driveway with them, okay? I don't want you hopping around, we don't want to risk you falling and hurting yourself worse." Ryan almost laughed, as if that hadn't already happened… Twice!

"Someone looks happy to be going home," The nurse said, misinterpreting Ryan's slightly delirious smile.


	32. Chapter 32

"Are you sure you don't need anything?" Kirsten asked. They were finally home from the hospital and Ryan was settled comfortably in the pool house with a stack of comics, a tv, video games, and his cell phone and specific instructions to call the house if he needed anything and Kirsten would come running. She wanted to stay and hover, but Ryan was clearly exhausted and ready to get some serious sleep.

Kirsten helped take him take his pain medication, accompanied him to the bathroom- to Ryan's chagrin, although at she waited outside, and then helped him back into bed. The brace was uncomfortable, running from the top of his though, all the way down his leg, and even encasing his foot, complete immobilization, and he did feel a bit better. Although that might have been the pills talking. He was definitely looking forward to a long uninterrupted sleep. His eyes sliding shut the moment his head hit the pillow.

Around dinner time, Kirsten decided Ryan needed to eat something and went out to the pool house to ask Ryan what he wanted. He was still asleep, but his face looked relaxed. She felt bad waking him, but pain medication plus an empty stomach was asking for trouble.

"Hey," She knelt on the bed, and gently brushed his blonde hair off his forehead.

His hazy blue eyes slowly opened and he looked up Kirsten, "Hi,"

"Did you get some rest?"

He nodded and looked around , "What time is it?"

"It's already 8pm. I thought you might like some dinner." Ryan started to shake his head, but Kirsten interrupted, "I'm not asking, I'm telling." Ryan smiled slightly, it felt good to be home and have Kirsten taking care of him, even though all he really wanted to sleep.

"What's for dinner?" He asked obligingly.

"I have some left over Chinese, how does lo mein sound?"

"Sounds delicious," Ryan said.

"Alright, I'll be right back. Do you need anything from the house? Water? Juice? More comics?"

"Uhmm… water?"

"Alright," Kirsten kissed his forehead, then headed back to the house. While Ryan liked, or at least appreciated, the attention, it was still awkward to be waited on, although it was better than being alone on the couch with only the barest offers of assistance, although Luke had been great. But still, he didn't like having to rely on Luke, it wasn't Luke's job to take care of him. Well, it wasn't really Kirsten's either... Maybe it should have been Seth and Marissa, that would have seemed more appropriate. But Marissa... Why...


	33. Chapter 33

"Oh, good your home." Sandy said, barely looking up when Seth walked in the door, toting his big duffle bag of ski stuff.

"Uh, yeah… Hi Dad…" Seth already knew he was going to be in trouble.

"Hi Mr. Cohen," Marissa said timidly from where she was lingering slightly behind Seth.

"Oh hey Marissa," Sandy said, "How was skiing?" He asked, pretending to be interested.

"Yeah Dad, thanks for the sarcasm." Seth said, turning and starting up the steps to his bedroom. Marissa was close on his heels, clearly afraid to be left alone with Mr. Cohen.

"Where do you two think you're going?" Sandy asked, if is he were genuinely intrigued.

"To put my stuff down, then we were going to go say hi to Ryan."

"Oh yeah?" Sandy asked, standing up straight, and crossing his arms. "Going to check on him, see how he's doing?"

"Uhmm… yeah?" Seth asked.

"Because you were so concerned on the mountain… Now your concerned?" Sandy asked, in slight disbelief.

"Well uh…" Seth stuttered, unsure what to say. He felt like he had shown some concern- alright maybe he could have been a little more helpful, but it wasn't like the guy had asked for help or acted like he wanted anyone else around him.

"He's sleeping right now, don't bother him." Sandy ordered, "Seth, you can take Marissa home, after that, you're coming back here and we're going to have a little talk about responsibility."

"Can I take my stuff to my room first?"

"Sure, but Marissa, do you mind staying here a moment?" Sandy asked, sounding almost nice.

"Uhmm… Sure Mr. Cohen…" Seth gave her a look, but he couldn't save her, and scampered off to his room with all his gear.

"So, Marissa, how was skiing?"

Kirsten came in from the outside, and found Sandy and a scared looking Marissa. "Hi Marissa, yes, how was skiing?" She went and stood next to Sandy and also folded her arms.

"I uh, I just came by to see how Ryan was doing…"

"He's sleeping,"

"Right, well, maybe I'll come back later."

"He told me you two broke up," Sandy said, "Kind of strange that you're coming to visit your ex, don't you think?"

"Well, uh, he's my friend and uh…"

"You didn't treat him like a friend." Sandy said, bluntly. "He told me about the trip, and frankly, I'm disappointed by you. I really thought you would know better."

"I uh, Ryan seemed like he really didn't want me around…"

"And you think he'd want to see you now?" Kirsten asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I thought I could explain and tell him that I care about him."

Seth reappered on the steps, "We'll tell Ryan you stopped by and to give you a call, if he feels up to it." Sandy told Kirsten, "Seth, I want you back here in fifteen minutes, got it?"

"Right…" Seth muttered.

When Seth appeared shortly there after, Sandy and Kirsten were laying in wait. "Do you have any idea what your brother has been going through? He's been in horrific pain, for days, and what did you do? Nothing!" Sandy was off and running with his rant. "You should have been there for him, you should have turned and driven him home the second he got hurt. You should have been the one taking him to the ER- not Luke!"

"And then to not help him with anything once you were back at the lodge?" Now it was Kirsten's turn, "He practically collapsed by the time he got home he was so exhausted and dehydrated, and he'd been sleeping on a couch! You couldn't help him find a bed?"

"I'm sorry…" Seth did indeed look miserable, but Sandy and Kirsten weren't sure if it was actual guilt or just self- pity.

"Well, we already have your punishment planned." Kirsten said, producing a walkie- talkie from behind her back. "Ryan has the other one, if he needs anything, you're on it. Got it?"

"And you'd better not act like this is punishment either, you should be GLAD to help your brother." Sandy added, "And your grounded, for as long as it takes Ryan to be able to get up and around! And no car- except to help Ryan!"

"Okay…" Seth said dejectedly, but he didn't argue, he deserved the punishment, he really had failed Ryan. He didn't know how bad it had been, and clearly he had failed him as a brother. Sandy and Kirsten exchanged a look- maybe Seth really did get it. The walkie- talkie crackled to life.

"Kirsten?" Ryan's voice asked.

"Hey buddy, it's me." Seth said.

"Oh hey… You're home…"

"Uh yeah…"

"Where's Kirsten?"

"I uh, asked to take over Ryan- duty for awhile," Seth lied, but his parents didn't correct him.

"Oh, okay."

"Do you need anything?"

"Uhmm… Is Kirsten there?" Ryan asked.

With a sigh, Seth handed the radio back to his mom. "He wants you, not me."

"Well, clearly you're going to need to win back his trust," Sandy muttered.

"Right…" Seth said, dejectedly listening as Ryan asked Kirsten for a glass of water. Really, that was all he wanted? And he didn't feel like he could ask him? Seth dejectedly slunk into a kitchen chair.

"Don't look so miserable," Sandy said, "Your leg's not even broken."

"Dad, I'm sorry…"

"Don't tell me you're sorry," He gestured towards the pool house, "Ryan is the one you should apologize to."

"He doesn't want to see me…"

"No, you're right, he doesn't. You screwed up and you're just going to have to figure out how to make it up to him."

Fin.

A/N: I know- cliffie! But I'm gearing up for a Part 2 (coming soon) so have no fears! In the meantime, a new (unrelated) story "Sk8tr Boy" is on it's way shortly... Alright, one little hint: Seth attempts to teach Ryan how to skateboard


	34. Author's Note

Author's Note:

Hi everyone. Thank you all for reading this. I appreciate all the wonderful reviews everyone wrote. Just in case anyone hasn't seen. The next part begun, it's called "It can only be uphill from here."

I'm going to try and answer all the questions as the gang navigates the next few months, as Ryan tries to heal, Seth tries to repair their friendship, Marissa must figure out whether she wants to be with Ryan, who wants nothing to do with her, or whether she prefers the "friendship" of Oliver who seems to need her so badly. Summer and Luke must figure out if they actually have feelings for one another, or if it was just a mountaintop fling born out of desperation.


End file.
